Con a Con
by kate657
Summary: Sam is gone and in her place is a woman who will stop at nothing to get revenge on the one that ruined her life.
1. Chapter 1

**CON A CON** by Kate

Summary: It's been said that everyone has an identical twin somewhere in the world but appearances can be deceiving.

**Chapter 1**

"Stay away from my family," Jason growled at the woman that had entered her apartment with her back turned to him but was now wearing an unreadable expression.

If she had been surprised at seeing him, she didn't show it. Maybe he just didn't recognize it. It wouldn't be that surprising. He didn't seem to know her anymore. After what he had just learned, he was starting to think that everyone may have been right; maybe he never knew her at all.

"What family?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him tauntingly. She didn't even bother to deny his unspoken accusation. She knew he would find out. It was only a matter of time. "Saint Elizabeth got you to give up your son and she's made damn sure you'll never be able to claim him after she lied under oath. And we all know you'd rather cut off your own arm than see her hurt."

"What were you thinking?" He demanded to know. He needed to know why she had targeted Elizabeth while she was with the children in the park that day, threatened them with guns. "You had to know I'd find out."

"Of course you did. Why, you're the all-knowing Jason Morgan, aren't you?" She mocked him.

"Stop it," he barked.

Her eyes turned cold at the order. "Or what?" she challenged dangerously. She walked a few feet closer to him until their faces were inches apart. "What are you going to do, Jason? Kill me?" She laughed at the notion, not paying any attention to the fire that blazed in his eyes. "You didn't even have the courage to leave me to be with Elizabeth and your son. I had to leave you."

"Do you really think you'll be able to look me in the eyes while you kill me?"

She was making it easy for him to imagine the possibility that one day he would be able to arrange her demise. He knew he would never be able to carry it out himself, simply because of what they used to be together. "I won't be warning you again, Sam," he said and let the threat hang in the air. He left then.

She sighed in disappointment. "What a loser."

"That could've gone better." The person that had been hiding in the bedroom finally revealed herself.

"Believe me, that's all you're going to get out of him," she replied.

"For your sake, you better hope that it's enough."

"I don't understand why you're even bothering with him," she said again, trying to figure out what the woman gained by getting her encounter with Jason Morgan on tape. "I thought you actually liked him. Or was making nice with him part of your plan to get revenge?"

The other woman was silent.

"Amelia?" She prodded again.

Amelia Joffe turned her head to the woman speaking to her. "I don't care about him one way or the other," she finally answered.

"I know; the only thing you care about is getting back at Sam." She still didn't understand why it was easier for Amelia to go so far to exact revenge against a woman she didn't know than it was to face the fact that her father didn't care about her.

"That's right, Sam," she said, enunciating the name in amusement.

"Allie," she immediately corrected, shrivelling her nose in disgust at being called by her double's name. "And you really need to get laid."

"Doesn't matter what I call you now, does it?"

Confusion filled Allie's eyes at the gun that Amelia had pulled from her purse and now aimed at her head. "Any last words?" she asked politely.

"Why?" It was all she could think of.

"Because I may not care about Jason Morgan but my employer does and your name may be Allie but to the rest of the world, you're Sam McCall."

"Oh, my mistake," Amelia realized her incorrect observation. Hope rose in Allie's eyes but as she saw the amused response on her murderer's face, it died instantly. "You were Sam McCall."

The gun fired and Allie Munroe was dead. Only the people of Port Charles would think that the brown-eyed brunette that lay dead in the apartment was Sam McCall.

A cell phone rang and Amelia handed it to the man that stood beside her.

"Yes?" The man asked.

"Is it done?" A cold voice on the other end asked.

"Yes. The subject was eliminated an hour ago."

"And the Passenger?"

"She was relocated this morning," he said.

"Untraceable?"

"Of course."

"Good. The last thing we need is for someone to spot a woman alive hours after her supposed death. We've worked too long for this to go wrong now."

"Everything has been taken care of," he assured his boss.

"And the tape?"

He turned to the woman beside him for an answer. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" Amelia demanded in annoyance.

"Did you send the tape?" he asked.

"It will be delivered to the PCPD in ten minutes," she replied.

Hearing this, the person on the phone said, "Excellent." Then the connection went dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Exactly ten minutes after their boss hung up, Amelia had grabbed the phone from her partner's hands and dialled 911 to place an anonymous tip with the police.

Amelia began to tell them a story about hearing a woman and a man shouting and then hearing what she thought was a gun go off and a loud thud immediately afterwards. When asked about whom she was, she told them that she was a concerned neighbour, but refused to give her name or any other personal information.

"I think someone might be in trouble," she said in a panicked voice and hung up the phone. Then she turned to the man beside her. "Well, how did I sound?"

He raised his eyebrow and smiled, impressed. "Didn't know you could lie so well, Amelia," Sven said.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," she answered cryptically and then they parted ways.

Damian Spinelli was hard at work on his computer trying to find the whereabouts of Anthony Zacchara when someone's frantic knocking dragged him away from his task. He closed the lid of his laptop and walked over to the door.

On the other side stood his trusted best friend and the object of his affection Maxie Jones with tears streaming down her face. "Spinelli," she whimpered as she crossed the threshold and embraced him. "The most awful thing has happened."

She pulled away, walked over to the couch and sat down on it, all the while trying to regain her composure but failing miserably. "My dad broke the news to me this morning and I still can't believe it."

Spinelli rushed over to her in alarm. Maxie was not one to cry about things. She expressed her sadness by lashing out and doing stupid self-destructive things. "Tell me what has happened, Maximista, and I promise I will do everything in my power to right the wrong that has upset you so much."

Maxie gave him a watery smile but shook her head as her eyes watered again. "You can't make this right," she said.

"Of course I can. I am the Jackal, the best hacker in the whole world," he reminded her arrogantly.

"Your cyber skills can't bring someone back to life, can they?" she asked.

Spinelli slumped against the couch in misery. Someone else Maxie cared about was now dead. He wondered if she would ever catch a break after all the misery and loss her life had handed her. "Someone has died?" he asked. He knew it was stupid to ask because she had practically spelled it out to him but what else could he do?

"Yes, someone who shouldn't have died," Maxie replied, shaking her head at the unfairness of it all. Sam McCall was her only female friend and she was gone now. And worst of all, she had to break the news to Spinelli who adored her as well.

"Who?" he wondered.

"I'm sorry, Spinelli, but Sam was murdered last night," Maxie informed him and watched as his eyes widened in surprise and then when he was done processing the news, he looked devastated.

"The Goddess is no longer living?" He was asking for clarification but she could tell he was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of Sam being dead. "But how can that be?"

"My dad said that she was shot in her apartment," Maxie started to tell him about ten minutes later but he was no longer listening as he grabbed his laptop and started typing away. "What are you doing?"

He told her he was going to find the answers he was looking for. What that meant she wasn't sure but it was obvious by the way he wasn't telling her much that it was definitely illegal.

"What exactly are you doing?" she asked, hoping he would actually tell her. She had more than proven that she could be trusted with his secrets but he was still hesitant to share things without her having to push him for answers.

"I am trying to get the police report," he explained.

"This can't be," Spinelli grumbled miserably at the information he had gained by reading the official police report.

"What?"

"It says here that Fair Samantha was shot by someone she was heard arguing with moments before her death."

"How could they possibly know she was arguing with someone?" Maxie wondered.

"A neighbour apparently overheard shouting and then gunshots."

"Okay, but I don't understand what you're frustrated about," Maxie said, remembering the way his eyes had narrowed and that he had almost slammed the table with his fist.

"There's no mention of Fair Samantha ever drawing a weapon. In fact, it says her shotguns were hidden under her floorboards and her pistol was still in the drawer of her nightstand."

"So?"

"So, Fair Samantha would have drawn her gun and she would have fired," Spinelli told her simply.

"Maybe she didn't have time to before-" Maxie trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.

"She would have made time. My Goddess wouldn't have gone down without a fight," Spinelli declared reverently.

"If she was arguing with someone, she would have made sure she could protect herself and she knows how to defend herself without weapons so why didn't she?"

Just then, the door to the penthouse swung open and Jason Morgan walked in. He looked up and saw Maxie and Spinelli hovering over his computer and felt a sense of foreboding creep up his spine. He wondered what they were up to now.

"Greetings, Stone Cold," Spinelli said and a troubled look flashed in his eyes and right away Jason knew something was wrong.

"Jason," Maxie said icily and returned her attention back to the laptop.

"What are you two doing?" he asked, glancing at the computer screen pointedly.

Spinelli immediately closed the lid of the laptop so he couldn't see what they were reading.

Jason felt an alarm sound in his head. Spinelli was always open and honest, sometimes frighteningly so. He never hid things. "Is everything okay?"

"No, things aren't okay. Things are wrong. Horribly wrong," Maxie spat.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

Spinelli took a deep breath and played with his finger as he took a deep breath. "Stone Cold, I'm afraid I have some troubling news."

Jason sat down in the chair by the sofa and prepared himself for the next disaster.

"What?" he asked, oblivious to the blow that was about to delivered.

"Fair Samantha has been murdered."

The real Sam McCall opened her eyes but was surprised to find everything was dark. She felt around her and instead of the hard wood of a chair, and handcuffs or rope she expected, she felt something soft and fluffy beneath her. She realized she was on a bed and her hands were not bound.

She reached up to her face and pulled down a silk night mask. She took in her lavish surroundings, from the four-poster bed and feather mattress down to the down comforter that was wrapped around her and found that she was incredibly confused.

The door opened and an older man wheeled in and looked at her with delight. "Samantha, you're finally awake," he greeted her warmly as if he had known her forever.

She narrowed her eyes at him as he reached out his arm and touched her thigh. She slapped it away. "Who the hell are you and what am I doing here?" she demanded.

He grinned at her. "What's the matter? Don't you recognize me?"

She studied him closely and realized that he did seem familiar. After a few minutes she finally recognized him. "You're Anthony Zacchara."

"Yes, I am, but that's not what I meant."

"What did you mean then?" she asked, annoyed at the game.

"You really don't recognize me?" he sounded insulted now and shook his head in disappointment. "A girl should know her father's voice when she hears it."

Sam felt everything go dark again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sam slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. Instead of seeing the purple walls of her bedroom and feeling the familiar fabric of her bedspread like she hoped she would, she was still in the same room. "Oh God," she whined when she noticed Anthony peering down at her in concern. "It wasn't a dream."

"Are you trying to kill me?" he demanded hoarsely.

Sam looked up at him. Now there's an idea, she thought to herself. She could just kill him and forget that he ever told her that he was her father and leave this place behind her. The trouble was that she didn't know where she was and she was certain there would be guards on the other side of the door.

And she didn't think she was free to wander around on her own. If she were, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of kidnapping her.

"Do you make a habit of fainting without any warning like that?"

Sam narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the old man. "Do you make a habit of hitting people with big news as if you were telling them what day it was like that?" she shot back.

He smirked at her and she felt sick when she saw a glimpse of pride in his eyes. He was proud of her. She had seen a similar look in that bastard Cody's eyes when she was successful with a con.

"Touché," he replied in response and rolled away from the bed and over to the window.

"What you said before," Sam stumbled over the words. "You know, about how you're my…"

"I'm your father?" he asked.

The thought sickened her but she swallowed down the bile that had risen in her throat. "Yeah, that," she nodded in confirmation. "How is that possible?"

"Your mother and I," he began to tell her about him and Alexis' coupling but she raised a hand at him.

"I know how babies are made. What I wanted to know is how you and Alexis even knew each other."

"Well, that's simple. We met while she was in school," Anthony replied.

"But she said that another student had knocked her up."

Anthony's bark of laughter echoed throughout the room. "Is that the story she told?" he asked.

"What is the real story?" Sam asked.

He began to tell her how he was a professor at the school and he had slept with Alexis in a moment of weakness. His wife at the time had not been very good to him, so he was forced to look outside the marriage for comfort.

Now Sam was laughing. "You were a professor?"

"Well, I hadn't come into full power with my organization yet since my father was still alive, but, yes, I was," he replied and he looked away from her and stared out the window wistfully. "That was another lifetime."

"Obviously," Sam remarked and rolled her eyes at the glare thrown her way.

"Natasha was like a breath of fresh air and when she left so suddenly, I missed her very much. It wasn't until later on in life that I learned it was because she had turned up pregnant," Anthony replied.

"How can you be certain that you're my father?" Sam asked.

"I realize I'm not the ideal father for a girl to have, but I am yours, Samantha," Anthony replied.

"Sam," she corrected him.

"Who named you Samantha?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"My brother Danny did," Sam replied.

"I know you won't accept this for some time, Sam, but if you look in the mirror, you'll know," he said, gesturing to her face. "You have Zacchara traits; the dark hair, dark eyes, and the attitude."

"Your brother and sister have them too."

Sam paled at the mention of Claudia and John Zacchara. If what he was telling her was true, she had just gained two more siblings, not to mention even more whacko family history. She really didn't know which side of her gene pool was worse because she was a Cassadine and a Zacchara.

"You already have two children. Why would you even bother looking for me?" Sam asked. It didn't seem logical. He had no idea what she would be like and she had already wasted her time trying to please her mother and there was no way she would trip over herself to please this psycho.

"You're my daughter, Sam, that's why I searched for you," he replied.

"Yes, the daughter that you are holding prisoner God knows where," Sam remarked and her eyes lit with anger. "Why not just tell me this fascinating story over a meal like a normal person?"

"I didn't think you'd be very receptive to a dinner invitation from me."

She had to give him that. With the things she already knew about him from Spinelli, Anthony Zacchara was insane.

"You're a dangerous man. Can you blame me for not wanting to get involved in your world?" She chose to avoid answering him directly.

"It's not like you've lived a squeaky-clean life yourself, Sam— pulling scams, committing petty crimes, grand theft auto, and numerous arrests with one Jason Morgan."

"All right, so I'm not a saint. I never said I was."

"No, you're not but no one in this family is. And what you said about not being in my world isn't true either, is it?"

"You just said I was arrested with Jason several times so I assume you know about our relationship," she said.

He nodded. "You got pregnant by Corinthos and then shacked up with Morgan- that's two men from my world."

"That's it? You're not going to grumble about how I was with two of your enemies?" Sam wrinkled her brows together.

"We'll get to that." It was all he said before he rolled out the door.

Sam looked at her window and realized she was only on the second floor. "The hell we will," she said as she unlocked it and pushed the window open and started to climb out. She didn't know what the purpose of this family reunion was but she was certain she didn't want any part in it.

When she was almost through the window, she heard an alarm go off. She looked around trying to locate the source when she caught something flashing on her leg. She pulled up her nightgown and revealed an ankle monitor. She punched the air in frustration. "Damn it!"

She noticed the timer attached to the load and finally understood why she wasn't bound and gagged to a chair; her father had strapped a bomb to her ankle.

Time stood still for Jason as he processed the words that had just come out of Spinelli's mouth.

Spinelli lifted a corner of his eyebrow at him in concern. "Did you hear me?" his young friend asked of him.

"Yes, I heard you." It was an automatic response. He couldn't bring himself to repeat the phrase itself.

"And that's all you have to say?" Maxie shrieked angrily. "Spinelli tells you that Sam was murdered—not just dead but murdered—and all you have to say is that you heard him!"

"Are you really as cold and unfeeling as everyone says?" She didn't want to believe that the man her best friend put so much faith in was nothing more than a robot, or that the man that Sam had loved with all her heart up until the day she died summed up his feelings at the news of her death with a simple confirmation that he had heard and understood the news as it was told to him.

Maxie took on a cynical look as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Hey, maybe I should go up and thank Sam's murderer for killing her so she wouldn't have to see how little she meant to you in the three years you two were together."

"Maximista!" Spinelli chided her, standing up from his position on the couch and staring down at her. "Just because he doesn't express his grief in the same way you or I do does not mean that he didn't love Fair Samantha because he did."

"Oh my God, this is not the time to make me feel sorry for the Brain Damaged One over here!" Maxie roared, adopting Spinelli's quirk of nicknaming people. "Sam is dead! She was murdered! And he is just sitting there, all cool and seemingly unaffected by it! As if the person that he spent the last three years with is walking around out there somewhere. Well, she's not! Sam is gone and it is not right that he is so calm about it!"

"What would you have me do?" The furious roar was so unexpected that Spinelli jumped in surprise and then found himself back on the couch.

"Show some emotion, you blockhead!" Maxie fired back, unfazed by his infamous cold stare. Spinelli felt an enormous swell of pride for his best friend— that she was able to take Jason on in his current state said wonders about how much courage she really had.

"That won't bring her back, will it?" Jason demanded. His voice was raw and serious. Spinelli doubted that his mentor realized that he had just given himself away.

Whether his best friend realized that it was insight to what Jason was really feeling was another question because Maxie's face grew stormier than ever. "No, of course it won't bring her back but it would show that you actually gave a damn about her."

"Stone Cold has never been that expressive," Spinelli informed her. He had been able to interpret when Jason was in emotional turmoil but Maxie lacked the knowledge he held since she didn't spend that much time around him.

Maxie now turned to him, Jason seemingly forgotten, and her eyes filled with fresh tears. "I talked to her two days ago on the set of Everyday Heroes. I said that I'd call her later to set up a time to go shopping for clothes for the new season."

"You and Sam shopped together a lot," he reminded her. He didn't understand why that had upset her so much.

"It sounds so superficial!" Maxie cried. "She was my best friend- the only girlfriend I had- and those were the last words I said to her and they were about a stupid shopping trip!"

Spinelli put a comforting hand on the small of her back, understanding now.

"She'll never know how much fun I had with her. I'll never be able to tell her how much I appreciated that she was able to look past all the horrible things I've done and see me and actually like me."

Spinelli felt the same way. Sam had looked at him as if she saw the person that lied underneath the persona he used to fake people out. She didn't treat him like everyone else had, even as Jason had when they first met.

"She said that she was in no position to judge after all the things she had done herself and that someone had shown her a long time ago how to look past all the ugly failures and see people for whom they really are."

Jason, upon hearing this, felt his eyes well with tears. Sam said that he was that person for her. He felt ashamed of himself for taking her for granted.

"_I won't be warning you again, Sam."_ Those were the last words he had said to her. He had threatened her life in a moment of angry passion. And now she was dead.

There was a firm knock at the door. Spinelli got up to answer the door. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Mac Scorpio stepped into the apartment. Behind him were Lucky Spencer, Cruz Rodriguez and a handful of uniforms. Jason wondered what was with the entourage.

"Jason Morgan, you're under arrest," Mac began talking to him while Lucky and Cruz pulled him to his feet, pulled his arms behind his back and snapped handcuffs on his wrists.

"What is the meaning of this?" Spinelli jumped into action.

"Dad, what are you arresting him for?" Maxie asked as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Mac turned at the unexpected voice. "Maxie, what on earth are you doing here?" he asked in a softer, paternal tone.

"What's the charge?" Maxie wouldn't let him deter her by pretending to be clueless. He knew full well that she was there visiting Spinelli because she had told him.

"Murder," came the grim reply and Maxie had a very bad feeling.

"What!" Spinelli sputtered. "Whose?"

"Sam McCall." And then they took Jason away.


	4. Chapter 4

First, the timeline is very different. Some things that are happening now have happened and somethings haven't. For instance, Patrick and Robin are together, engaged and expecting but Emma hasn't been born yet. Elizabeth and Jason did have Jake together but Sam doesn't know about him so the kidnapping and men in the park was all Allie. Sam and Jason did break up in the prison but not over Jake... Sam was tired of Jason putting everyone, including Elizabeth, before her so she left him. She has no idea that Jason even has a son or that Jason knows about Jake. The real Sam has been missing since after the MetroCourt explosion so she's not the star of Everyday Heroes, Allie is. Have any questions, ask and I'll answer.

Enjoy.

**Chapter Four****  
**  
While Maxie stared at the now vacant doorway, Spinelli jumped into action, rambling about needing to get in touch with the "Brisk Lady of Justice," whom she recognized as his name for Diane Miller, Jason's attorney.

"And Mr. Corinthos Sir needs to be informed of this travesty of justice," Spinelli added as he rummaged through the desk for the numbers that he needed.

He picked up the phone, started dialling and was telling both Sonny and Diane the news of Jason's arrest at the same time. He told her he was going to link the two calls together so the three of them could talk about what they were going to do.

"I don't see what evidence they could possibly have against Stone Cold," Spinelli was saying and he listened for a while to what someone on the other end was telling him. "I already have the police report of Fair Samantha's murder."

Maxie walked over to him and pressed the button that ended his call on the telephone's cradle.

Spinelli looked at her in surprise. "Why did you do that?"

She walked over to the couch and sat down. An uneasy feeling came over her as she worked up the courage to answer him. She knew he would be angry at her but he needed to face this.

"Because you're working to help free Jason," she replied.

"Of course I am. He has once again been unjustly accused of murder," Spinelli replied instantly, failing to see why that was a reason for her to hang up the phone. "And not just any murder; for the law abiding ones actually think he killed Fair Samantha! That is appalling."

"How do you know he didn't kill Sam?" Maxie interjected and her expression turned dead serious.

Spinelli's jaw dropped. "Please don't tell me you actually believe that nonsense."

"I don't, necessarily." She looked around the room pensively as she tried to figure out the best way to explain herself. "But I know that my dad wouldn't arrest him without a reason. There has to be something tying him to Sam's murder."

"Nothing has been listed in the police report."

Maxie smirked at his naïveté. "That is just the preliminary report, Spinelli, and they don't always put everything in those anyways."

Her friend was silent for a few minutes and she wondered if he was considering the possibility that Jason could have been involved in Sam's murder but when his eyes lit up, her hopes were quickly dashed because she knew he had come up with some excuse as to why Jason was under suspicion.

"Perhaps the police think that Jason's recent breakup with The Goddess might give him reason to hurt her." His lopsided smile turned into a grin. "That has to be it. It's a misunderstanding for Stone Cold would never hurt our Sam."

Maxie bit her lip and shook her head in disappointment. She had seen the small flash of fear in Jason's eyes as her father and the rest of the cops had led him away.

That look could only mean one thing; that there was some piece of damning evidence out there for someone to find, or that he had said or done something to warrant suspicion.

"I will continue to search Cyber Space to find the answers that we seek," Spinelli bravely said and sat down on the couch.

Maxie stood up and grabbed her jacket. "You do that." She watched his face fill with confusion at her departure. "I prefer to go directly to the source."

"How can you be sure your father will divulge that kind of information to his daughter?" Spinelli called after.

"Because Sam was my friend," Maxie replied, putting her arms through her sleeves and buttoning up her jacket. "Besides, I wasn't talking about Mac."

"Then who were you referring to?"

"Jason." And with that, she walked out the door and headed to the elevator.

Spinelli remained at his laptop, not wanting to get involved. "Oh, dear," he said as he thought about what Maxie would be up against if she tried to get Jason to talk to her.

After arguing with Cruz and Lucky for several minutes, they were finally called away by her father and Maxie saw her opportunity to sneak in and talk to Jason.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jason asked when she sat down across from him.

"Quite a jam you're in," she commented, looking around the interrogation room as a way of avoiding having to answer his question. "Is being arrested for murder something that happens to you regularly?"

"I get arrested a lot in my line of work," he replied cryptically.

"Oh, so the murder charge is just a bi-annually thing then?" She couldn't help antagonizing him. People like Jason made it hard to resist allowing her inner brat to take over.

"This isn't a game, Maxie, I've been arrested for murder," Jason tried to get through to her, hoping the girl would understand that he didn't have time to deal with her right now.

"Yeah, Sam's murder," Maxie nodded in agreement and her tone immediately hardened as she said the words. "So what did you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not Spinelli. I don't have the kind of blind faith in you that he has and I know how the cops work," she explained simply. "If my father came to arrest you for Sam's murder, he had a reason and I'm here to find out what it is."

"I haven't done anything to Sam," he denied quickly.

Maxie shook her head in disappointment. "Don't lie to a liar, Jason." She quickly spied her father coming out of his office, probably to come talk to Jason himself. "Now is your last chance to tell me the truth. If you said or did something to Sam, you can tell me and I'll believe you."

"Why would I give you ammunition that you can take back to your dad?" Jason asked her seriously, his gaze rising to where Mac currently stood outside.

"Is that why you think I'm here?" Maxie asked in disbelief. "I'm here for Sam. I'm here for Spinelli who doesn't want to believe that you could kill someone you love as much as you loved her, and neither do I."

"I'm going to find out what you did eventually, Jason. My guess is that my dad already knows or somebody else does. It's going to come out. Whether or not I believe that it's your motive for killing Sam is completely up to you."

Just then, the door swung open.

"Well, Jason, it seems this time you weren't as careful as you usually are," Mac was saying as he shut the door behind him, unaware that his teenaged daughter was sitting across from Jason Morgan. "We have you on tape."

"What do you have on tape?" Maxie asked eagerly.

Mac blinked several times and she still didn't go away. "Maxie, what are you doing here? With him?"

He was gesturing at Jason wildly and Maxie recognized the vein in his forehead. It was never a good sign.

She narrowed her eyes. "If he killed Sam, I want to know why." She said it so simply as if it was all the explanation she was required to give.

"He's not talking so I'm hoping you'll tell me." Jason couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips at the way she was talking to her father. Sometimes Maxie Jones was unbelievably gutsy.

"You cannot come into an interrogation room while I'm working and start chatting with dangerous felons, Maxie." Mac's voice was stern but he wasn't yelling yet.

Maxie didn't like making him lose his cool but she figured it was the best way to find out what they had on Jason. "I don't see what the big deal is. If you can do it, then so can I."

"Maxie," her father warned.

"Dad, Sam was my friend and if Stone Cold over there killed her, I need to know why."

"I understand that you want answers, but this is not the way to go about getting them," Mac told her.

"Then just tell me what I want to know and I'll be out of your way."

He dropped the files onto the table with a hard smack and leaned down to glare at her. "You know very well that I cannot discuss ongoing investigations. Now, you need to get out of here before I ground you."

Maxie smirked. "Dad, I'm too old for that."

"Spencer!" Mac turned and yelled for Lucky Spencer.

Maxie saw her opportunity and grabbed what she could of the file on the table. She looked at Jason and winked at him, hoping he would get that she was on his side and she was actually there to help him so he would shut his mouth.

A few seconds later, Lucky entered.

"Get her out of here and make sure she leaves the building. And get me another copy of the McCall file. This one is a mess," he said as he handed Lucky the now out-of-order papers.

"Don't bother with the escort." Maxie rose to her feet and looked at her father carefully. "I'm leaving on my own and we can talk about this when you're at home."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter**** 5  
**  
Sam opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief to discover that she was actually alone. As far as prisons went, the bedroom was quite luxurious and she suspected that she was actually in the Zacchara mansion.

It had been a few days since she the failed escape attempt that would have ended her life. When she asked why Anthony had put an ankle monitor on her foot, he had told her it was a security measure. Then she asked about the bomb that was inside it.

His smile had widened into a grin and pride lit in his eyes as he chuckled at her. "Think of it as incentive," he had told her. She realized he meant incentive not to escape.

She rose from the bed and walked over to the closet. Curiously, she opened the door to find a change of clothes. She was tired of the stupid nightgown she was wearing. She was amazed to find that the closet was actually a walk-in the size of a small apartment stocked with clothes that were probably her size.

She found a pair of jeans and a plain black tank top and threw them on. It was difficult getting the pants over the ankle monitor because she was worried one tap in the wrong place would activate the explosive.

Exiting the room, she wasn't surprised to find two of her father's goons guarding the room. One turned to her and blocked her way. "Where are you going, Miss Zacchara?"

Sam was caught off by the name. "McCall," she corrected them. "And I was hoping to go downstairs to get some breakfast."

He put his arm down and the two started to follow her. She turned around.

"Alone," she said.

"Our orders are to stay by your side," the other one argued.

Sam ground her teeth together in frustration. "I don't think that's necessary."

"Your father does."

"My father-" she stopped midsentence as she realized she had actually called Anthony her father. "He is crazy and paranoid."

"That may be, Sam," Anthony interjected, rolling down the hallway a few doors down. "But I didn't get where I am today by trusting people."

"Bodyguards are a way of life for a Zacchara." He added with a smile. "My paranoia about security is what keeps us alive."

Sam had to laugh at him as he wheeled closer to her. "You're in a wheelchair," she pointed to the chair. "Your security didn't protect you from whatever put you in that thing."

"I put myself in this thing by jumping off a roof while I was ill," Anthony replied.

"Well, I can protect myself and since I'm only going downstairs, not across town, since you won't let me out of here, I don't see the need for them."

"You will be given your freedom in due time."

"I don't believe you," Sam declared in annoyance. "You've held me captive for months. That sick freak Jerry Jacks terrorized your daughter on your orders. You can't expect me to believe you have my best interests at heart."

His eyes went dark and a shadow pulled down on his features. "What did you just say?" he demanded angrily. "What do you mean, Jerry tortured you?"

"Mercilessly," Sam screamed angrily. "You're telling me you didn't notice the scars on my back? Burns on my feet? Cuts and bruises on my arms?"

When she was finished with her outburst, her father actually looked ashamed. "I did not." His eyes bored into hers as if he were searching for something and then wheeled towards the elevator that would carry him downstairs.

"Get Jerry Jacks here now!" She heard him bellow a few minutes later.

She watched him arguing with Mac heatedly about something and jumped in surprise when he pounded the table furiously.

Mac was leaning over the table now, gesturing to the tape player and then pushed himself up. He took the tape from inside the stereo and walked out the door.

Jason rubbed his face with his hands and then leaned over, burying his head in his arms.

She pushed the door open and sat down next to him. "Oh, Jason," she spoke softly. Sympathy that he was arrested again was flowing through her as she reached out and tried to hold one of his hands.

He pulled away instantly as he raised his gaze to stare at her in confusion. "What are you doing here?" he wondered.

Elizabeth clucked her teeth as she allowed some tears escape her eyes. "I came as soon as I heard that you'd been arrested."

His features softened. "You shouldn't have."

"I had to," she insisted as she tried to reach out to hold his hands. "The police are crazy for arresting you for murder. They only did it because they're bitter over losing the Alcazar case."

"They didn't arrest me out of spite," Jason corrected her.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm here to keep you company."

"They think I killed Sam," he told her in a tortured whisper and then shook his head in disbelief. "She was found dead two days ago."

"I heard about that," Elizabeth nodded her knowledge. "Whatever you did, I'm sure it was justified."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Justified?" he repeated.

"Jason, Sam watched Jake get kidnapped and did nothing to stop it," Elizabeth told him, squeezing his hand gently. "She threatened me and the boys in the park. Anyone would understand if she did something to provoke you."

Jason pulled his hand out of hers roughly. "So you think I did it?" he asked.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't know but I understand if you did. Sam was out of control."

"She was in pain," Jason defended Sam's memory. "She was hurting because of what I- what we did to her."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you defending her?" She shook her head at him incredulously. "That woman almost cost you your son, Jason. She was willing to let Jake be taken away from us because she lost you and because I was his mother, not her."

"She hired men to scare me. They pointed a gun at me and my children!"

"And I dealt with her," Jason replied, staring at her coldly. She was yelling about "their" son out in the open; anyone could've heard.

"And I support the decision you made," Elizabeth's voice softened upon hearing the anger in his voice.

"But I didn't kill her."

"Right," Elizabeth said and made a motion of locking her mouth and throwing the key away so he would know she wouldn't say a word.

"No, Elizabeth, I'm not repeating some line I rehearsed for the cops!" He stood up but was soon pulled back down by the cuffs chained to the table. "I did not kill Sam. I would never be able to do that."

"Then why are you here?" She looked around the interrogation room in confusion.

"The cops have a tape of me threatening her for you!" He exploded furiously.

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked in concern.

"One night I went to Sam's apartment and told her to stay away from you, Jake and Cameron." Jason tried to calm down but her eyes were still staring at him in complete confusion. He was tired of walking her through everything all the time. "I said something that they're taking the wrong way and, I have to say, whoever taped that conversation did a great job."

"How?"

"They taped just the right part of the conversation. It has Sam mentioning you lying on the stand for me, Jake and my threat; I gave them motive, I broke into her apartment that night so that is opportunity and I own plenty of guns. The most damning evidence was gift-wrapped and handed right over to the police."

"Sam," Elizabeth instantly said. It reeked of that con artist bitch.

Jason looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Sam is the one that set you up. She probably recorded that conversation and planned to use it to put you in prison so there would be no one to stop her from ruining my life." Elizabeth was surprised by how spiteful the slut was over being dumped.

"No," Jason shook his head. "She wouldn't do that to me even after everything I've done to her."

"Of course she would," Elizabeth nodded insistently.

"No," Jason denied again.

"Jason, you said the same thing when Amelia and Maureen told you what she did to Jake," Elizabeth scoffed at his foolishness. "Don't you think it's possible that Sam wasn't the person you thought she was?"

"You miserable bitch."

Elizabeth cringed at the sound of that voice. She hated that voice with a passion.

"Sam isn't even in the ground yet and already you're manipulating Jason into thinking she was the devil incarnate?" Carly Corinthos-Jacks walked further into the room and folded her arms across her chest. "If you're searching for evil, look in the mirror. The person staring back is by far the most vicious, unfeeling, manipulative monster I have ever met."

"What are you doing here, Carly?" Elizabeth hissed. "Shouldn't you be at home, praying and hoping that your husband will come back to you this time?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Mrs. Spencer." Carly retorted, chuckling at the pinched expression on Elizabeth's face. "Shouldn't you be with your kids, and reassuring Lucky that you do love him?"

"I'm here for Jason," Elizabeth replied, looking back at him. "Unlike you, I know that friends are supposed to support each other during bad times, not just fix all my problems."

"Well, I would leave right now because your husband just walked in and I don't think he'll be pleased that you're here with Jason." Carly watched as Lucky glanced in their direction and visibly stiffened. "Again."

"Lucky is not your concern," Elizabeth snapped at her.

"And clearly, he's not yours."

"I love my husband," Elizabeth answered robotically.

Carly scoffed. "If you did, you would realize that seeing you with the man you cheated on him with would upset him and respectfully keep your distance. But instead, you run to Jason every chance you get."

"Shut up."

"How long do you think he'll put up with you?" Carly taunted. "He may be a chump, but even he has limits. He feels guilty for what he did to you; that's why he's letting you get away with all the crap you've pulled but by the looks of things, your grace period is up."

"Elizabeth, you should leave," Jason said, looking up at Carly in agreement.

"But, Jason, you need me."

"Your family needs you. I don't want to cause anymore problems between you and Lucky," he told her impatiently. "I'll be fine."

She left in a huff.

"What a bitch," Carly commented as she took Elizabeth's chair. "So I know you didn't kill Sam but for some reason, the police think you did."

Jason looked at her curiously. He knew she wouldn't believe that he killed Sam but he sensed there was something bothering her.

"Care to share?" Carly asked.

"What?"

"Oh, come on, Jason," Carly raised her hand to him and made a gesture to tell him to tell her what was going on. "Maxie told Spinelli that the police have something on tape."

"And you want to know what," Jason guessed.

"It would help Spinelli if he knew what they had against you so he could prove your innocence."

"All right," Jason sighed heavily and leaned forward, preparing himself for what was to come. "They have me on tape threatening Sam."

Carly's mouth dropped and her eyes filled with anger.

Sam wandered into a room and instantly wished she had ignored her curiosity about the noises that were coming from it.

Her father was sitting in his wheelchair; there were three men by his side, including Trevor Lansing, holding guns pointed at Jerry Jacks who was trembling with fear.

"Please, Anthony," Jerry begged uselessly. "I did not know that Sweet Sam was your daughter."

"You had orders," Anthony told him coldly.

"Yes and I followed them to the latter," Jerry nodded in agreement. "I didn't keep Sam in one place for too long. I moved her constantly. I made sure that Amelia was nowhere near her."

"Oh, so you do remember what you were told?" Sam didn't like the tone in his voice.

"Yes, of course."

"Then what part of 'no harm' did you not understand?" Anthony roared, rolling closer to him. "I specifically said no harm was to come to my daughter and now I learn that not only did you disobey me, you tortured and scarred my daughter so much that she doesn't trust me. She thinks I ordered you to do those things."

"You have to understand," Jerry began to explain. "Your daughter is not the easiest person to contain. She was always escaping in the beginning. I had to do something to keep her in line."

"She was not to be treated like a prisoner. She is my daughter, you fool!" Anthony bellowed furiously.

Jerry spied her in the room and looked at her. "Sweet Sam, I apologize profusely."

"Do NOT speak to her. Do not even look at her." Anthony turned to her and motioned for her to come closer. "I am sorry for what this animal did to you. It was not what I intended."

Sam looked at him undecidedly. She believed that he ordered her not to be harmed after what she just witnessed but she wasn't entirely sure she could trust him either.

He took her hand and pulled her closer to him. "I am going to make it up to you," he promised.

"How?" Sam pulled her hand away.

Anthony held the gun in his hand and gave it to her. "By letting you have revenge." He gestured to Jerry.

Sam's eyes widened as she realized her father was giving her the chance to kill Jerry for what he had done. She raised the gun and aimed at Jerry. Memories of all the things that had been done to her at his hands came flooding her back and her grip tightened, determined.

She stared him down and found that she enjoyed having control over him. "This is for everything you've done." She pulled the trigger, shooting Jerry right between the eyes and watched as the back of his head exploded all over the wall.

"Do you forgive me now?" Anthony asked hopefully.

Sam handed the gun back to him and nodded. "Yes," she soothed him carelessly as she looked at the body of Jerry Jacks. She wasn't sorry for what she did. Jerry was a monster that needed to be put down and the way she had done it was more merciful than what she guessed her father would have done to him.

"You're very good," Anthony admired the way she handled the gun and her aim. It made him proud that his daughter knew how to use one. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a pro."

"He wasn't the first man I killed," Sam said cryptically in response. "Not by a long shot." She didn't know how many people she had killed while she was with Jason, growing up with her adopted father, or while she was on her own looking after Danny. She had lost count a long time ago.

"What happened in here?" A male voice questioned behind them.

She watched Anthony's eyes light up at the voice and turned to him. "John. Son, come in here."

Sam stiffened at the name. John. She turned and was face to face with her little half brother John Zacchara.

"I want you to meet someone," Anthony said and took his son's hand. He took Sam's hand and joined them together. "This is your sister, John."

His hand dropped hers and he turned to his father questioningly. "What do you mean, she's my sister? My sister is in Russia meeting with Karpov."

"Claudia is in Russia but your other sister Sam is right in front of you."

John looked at her curiously. "Is he having an episode right now or is he telling the truth?"

"Unfortunately, he is telling the truth," Sam told him with an amused grin. Even his own son thought he was still crazy as a loon. "It turns out that I am your half sister." She explained the whole story.

John nodded in understanding. "What's your name?"

"Sam McCall."

His features deepened and he looked at his father in confusion. "But you're dead."

Sam frowned at him and turned to Anthony who was now glaring at John angrily. "What is he talking about?"

Anthony bit his lip in frustration as he looked up at his daughter. "Well, Sam, the thing is, everyone in Port Charles believes that you are dead."

Sam walked over to the desk and rummaged to find the newspaper. Her face went white when she saw the headline.

_**SAM McCALL FOUND SHOT EXECUTION-STYLE IN HER APARTMENT; INVESTIGATION PENDING**__**.**_

The newspaper fell to the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Anthony watched as his daughter retrieved the newspaper and began reading the article about her death. Her brows would furrow in confusion every once in a while and occasionally, she would glance at him; her eyes lit with anger and then look back down at the page.

"I know you must have questions," Anthony cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Sam's head snapped up from the article and she glared at him. "No, I don't," she replied ominously.

He furrowed his brow at her. "Are you sure?" It would seem reasonable to him if she had questions about everything. Especially since by reading that article, she had figured out that her life wasn't how she had left it.

"No," Sam waved a careless hand at him. "I mean, I've only been missing for four months and I had been wondering why no one ever came for me. But since they think I've been dead for a few days, I guess that clears things up." She looked back at the newspaper and threw it on the table furiously. "Oh, wait a minute! No, it doesn't!"

Sarcasm; he would expect nothing less from Natasha's daughter. "Samantha," Anthony spoke gently.

"My name is Sam!" She exclaimed in exasperation.

"Sam," John grabbed her hand. In surprise, Sam turned to her newfound brother and looked at him curiously. "I get that you're angry right now but maybe you should calm down and Father will explain things." Then he glared at Anthony. "Right?"

"Of course," Anthony smiled his agreement with his son.

Sam looked between the two of them undecidedly. After a few seconds, she took a deep, calming breath and sat down. She looked at Anthony and said, "Okay, Pops, let's hear your explanation."

"And this better be good," John added as an afterthought for Sam. They had met merely seconds ago and already he felt protective of her, which was odd because he didn't trust new people very easily.

Anthony began to explain that he had been searching for her for almost three years with no progress. "I was beginning to think I'd never find you," he admitted sadly.

"What changed?" Sam asked.

"I saw you on television after the MetroCourt explosion," he explained and Sam realized he was talking about the reporter that had interviewed her after she had warned the cops that Jerry had the lobby rigged. "When I saw your face, I knew."

Sam looked at him doubtfully. "You saw me for a few minutes and you expect me to believe that you somehow knew that I was the daughter you had with a woman you barely knew over twenty years ago?"

"You have my eyes, Sam, as do John and Claudia," Anthony explained, pointing to her brother's face and a picture of Claudia on the mantel. "I also recognized some of your mother in you."

"Now I know it was a long time ago but I remember Natasha very well."

"Alexis," Sam corrected him. Her mother no longer went by that name and it felt weird hearing him call her by it.

"Whatever her name is, I recognize her features in you as well as my own."

"So you saw me, guessed that I was your daughter and then hatched a plan to abduct me and later on, fake my death?"

Anthony shook his head and told her that he did some digging into her past. "When I discovered your connection to Morgan, I knew that it would be impossible to approach you in public."

"Jason and I weren't together when Jerry came after me," Sam said in confusion. They hadn't been apart very long at the time since she had broken up with him a mere two weeks before Jerry had taken her.

"He still had guards on you. If they reported seeing me approach you or the two of us talking, Morgan would have come after me and those that I care about."

Sam looked at him in anger. Another parent who didn't consider her as important as his other children was not someone she was interested in getting to know but he seemed to sense her bitterness as he reached forward and squeezed her hand. She pulled away immediately.

"As much as I wanted to get to know you, I couldn't risk the lives of my other children, Sam," Anthony told her sincerely. "I had to come up with another plan."

He tasked Jerry to grab her and bring her to a secure location. The plan was to immediately bring her to the mansion so they could meet and he would introduce himself. But things went awry with Corinthos and Morgan so he had to put his plan on hold.

"Which is why you were left with Jerry for so long," Anthony said, and balled his hands into fists at what that monster had done to her. "If I had known about his methods of containing you, I never would have left you in his care."

"How were you able to keep people from looking for me?" Sam asked as she wondered for the zillionth time why Jason never came to get her. Sure, they weren't together but their breakup hadn't been that bad.

She called him on the things they both knew were wrong in their relationship. She told him that she deserved somebody who could put her first, a man who wouldn't constantly be found with the woman he had cheated on her with—a woman he knew that she didn't care for—after they had reconciled and left him, moved out of the penthouse and rented a room at Kelly's for a short time.

"They didn't know you were missing," Anthony replied simply. He told her that when it became clear that he would have to keep her away from him for so long, he told Jerry to find someone that could take her place in Port Charles.

"How the hell did you accomplish that?" John asked, wondering how his father had found someone that looked enough like Sam to fool even the people she was closest to.

Knowledge sparked in Sam's eyes. "Allie," she realized and closed her eyes in annoyance.

"You hired Allie Munroe to take over my life in Port Charles."

"Yes," Anthony acknowledged.

"Why?" Sam exclaimed. "Allie hates me; she blames me for sending her to prison. You put her in my shoes and she probably trampled over everyone I care about."

"I didn't know of your connection to Allie when Jerry came to me with the news that he had found someone perfect for the job of replacing you."

"Oh, no," Sam rubbed her temple with her hands as her mind raced with various scenarios of things Allie had probably done to ruin her life. "What did she do?"

There was no easy way to tell her this so he decided to be honest about everything, maybe then she would see that he was on her side. "Allie committed numerous acts against your ex-fiancé's son," Anthony replied.

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers at his words. She gasped loudly and he could see the tears filling her eyes as she processed the full meaning of his words. "What did you just say?" she demanded.

"Allie stood by while Jason's son was kidnapped; she could've stopped it but she didn't."

"His son?" Sam repeated incredulously. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Anthony looked at her sympathetically. He was aware that Morgan had lied to her about the son that some woman named Elizabeth Spencer had given birth to. The two were trying to keep it under wraps but the woman foolishly discussed her youngest son's true paternity in at the hospital she worked at many times with no regard for her child's safety and his many spies were able to hear.

He explained to Sam that Jason had a son and that he had knowingly kept that information from her.

"You're lying," she protested weakly and then something seemed to dawn at her as more tears filled her eyes. "The baby was his, wasn't it?" She looked to him for answers.

He looked at her sadly.

"Elizabeth's baby was his," she answered her own question, her voice full of despair. "He lied to me."

"Yes, she told him during the hostage crisis." Anthony did not relish telling her this information for he could see what the news was doing to her.

He was aware of his daughter's inability to conceive a child after being shot because of Jason Morgan and then that useless idiot had gone and impregnated another woman. When the manipulative cow had chosen to tell him the truth about his son, he had allowed her to convince him that it was best to lie to Sam.

Jason Morgan had lied to his daughter, crushed her every time he had gone to meet that whore behind her back and left her wide open and vulnerable. It had been way too easy to take her from her home and replace her with Allie. Morgan's people hadn't noticed. Morgan hadn't even noticed the difference.

Anthony told Sam the rest of the damage Allie had done to her life. "When I discovered her crimes, I gave the order to eliminate her."

"You killed her?" Sam asked in confusion, wondering why he would kill his own plant.

"I hired her to pretend to be you, Sam, not to destroy your life," Anthony replied and she already knew that he didn't like to be disobeyed. "She was a problem that I didn't need so I got rid of her."

He left out the part about the last assignment he had given to Allie who was to arrange a confrontation with Jason Morgan, which is why she hired those men in the park to go after Morgan's son and his whore. Allie was supposed to get Jason to outright threaten her and Amelia was to record the entire conversation.

And it had worked brilliantly. Jason had been so filled with rage that he had said many things that implied his intention to hurt Sam. And Anthony had ordered Amelia to send the recording to the cops so they would think Jason was responsible.

His plan to frame Jason up for murder to exact his revenge against the enforcer for breaking his daughter's heart had worked out better than he thought because Jason now sat in jail and was the main suspect in Sam's murder case.

Sam was dazed and confused. "It says here that Jason is under suspicion," she said, holding up a paper that had come a few days after the paper with the article announcing her death had been delivered.

She knew the full impact of Jason's betrayal hadn't hit her yet but she didn't want him to be sent to jail for something she knew he didn't do.

Anthony's gaze swept over her face and she got the impression that he was searching for something and the frown on his face told her that he wasn't satisfied with whatever he did find. "Yes," he answered quietly.

"But you're the one that ordered Allie's death."

He nodded. "I told you, she disobeyed me."

"So why don't you have whoever shot Allie come forward?" Sam asked.

Anthony laughed at her incredulously. "Why on Earth would I do that?" He wheeled over to the mini bar and poured himself a glass of something.

"Because I'm asking you to," Sam replied, looking at him pleadingly. She didn't want to be the reason Jason was rotting in prison.

"I can't do that," Anthony shook his head regretfully. "Not even for you."

"Why not?" John asked. Jason Morgan had saved him from certain death after his reckless boss Sonny Corinthos had held a gun on him.

"Because Morgan is my enemy," he told his son and then looked at Sam seriously. "And in my opinion, he is exactly where he should be."

His harsh tone brokered no argument but that had never stopped Sam before and this time was no different. "Jason shouldn't be in jail for killing me because I'm not dead. Allie is the one that was murdered on your orders and I'm sure you're partly responsible for the police arresting him."

Sam noticed the guilt that flashed through his eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded to know.

"What I did is not important," Anthony replied and she could hear the trace of anger in his tone. "What you must do, however, is."

"What does that mean?" Sam narrowed her eyes at him.

He wheeled over to his two children and looked them both dead in the eyes. "You must realize that Jason Morgan is my enemy which makes him your enemy as well," he said, shifting his gaze to focus only on Sam. "I am not in the habit of helping my enemies, even if I am directly responsible for their situation."

"So you admit that you're the reason Jason is in jail?" Sam couldn't believe he had the nerve to sit there and gloat right in front of her.

"Yes, I am," Anthony boldly said. "And I found it very gratifying. That hoodlum betrayed a member of my family, he has threatened my own life repeatedly and he works for Sonny Corinthos."

"What makes you think that I'm loyal to you?" Sam's question caught him by surprise. "I don't even know you. I was with Jason for years. I backed him up whenever he needed me. Sonny was my daughter's biological father. Why should I turn my back on them for you?"

"Because they have already turned their backs on you," Anthony replied. He explained how easily Sonny turned against her after everything Amelia told him about her past. "Morgan had a son with another woman and never even told you. You were willing to share your child with him but he didn't even consider sharing his with you."

"And you kidnapped me, hired somebody to replace me and she ended up ruining my life," Sam fired back forcefully. "Your trusted employee tortured me and now you're holding me against my will. You strapped an explosive device around your own daughter's ankle."

"What can I do to earn your trust?" Anthony asked carefully. He was willing to do something to appease her just as long as she didn't push him too far. "Don't even ask me to set Morgan free because it won't happen. He is too big of a threat to my organization."

Sam knew that even if he agreed to set Jason free that he would just order a hit against him two hours after he was released from prison so trying to arrange for his release would be sentencing him to death. She also didn't think he was willing to let her go yet but she did believe him when he had told her that she would be set free in time.

She looked down at her ankle monitor. "Get this thing off of me." Sam looked up at him, warning him that this was a deal breaker. If he wanted her to even consider trusting him, he had to get the bomb off her.

"Very well." Anthony waved his hands and two goons came forward and pulled it off.

Sam looked down at them in shock. "What the hell?" she demanded. Then she looked back up at Anthony who was grinning at her.

John shook his head at his father. "You strapped an ankle monitor attached to a bomb with a fake explosive to her foot?"

"Of course it is a fake," Anthony replied, showing the bomb to Sam who quickly realized that the wires weren't connected to the bomb. "I couldn't run the risk of blowing up my own daughter."

Sam couldn't believe she had fallen for it but she felt better knowing there was no way to tell that it was fake while it was strapped to her foot. Seeing inside the bomb was impossible from that angle.

Carly stared at Jason for what seemed like an eternity but he could tell that she was pissed by the spark of fire that was beginning to fill her eyes.

She raised her hand to slap him but seemed to think better of it. Instead she swung her leg back and kicked him hard under the table.

Jason groaned in pain.

"There's more where that came from," Carly warned him, her tone practically daring him to whine about how much it had hurt.

"You threatened Sam?" She shrieked angrily. "And for that bitch Elizabeth? What the hell were you thinking?"

Jason told her about the things that Sam had done to Elizabeth and his son. "She was out of control. I had to do something," he pleaded his case, sounding pathetic to his own ears.

"So your brilliant solution was to break into her house and threaten to kill her?" Carly scoffed in disbelief. "Well, looks like the universe granted your wish, Jason. Sam is dead. Are you happy now?"

"Of course I'm not happy, Carly," Jason snapped at her. "How could you even ask me that?"

"I'm asking because I honestly don't know," Carly replied, staring him down in disgust.

"Sam devoted her life to you, Jason, and you paid her back by shoving her out of yours," Carly shook her head in disappointment. "Then, after the two of you agreed to try to work things out, you still allowed Elizabeth to hang around. How many times did you meet with her behind Sam's back, huh?"

Jason didn't answer.

"I don't blame Sam for going after Elizabeth," Carly remarked. "That tramp ran to you every chance she got, shoving her pregnancy in Sam's face whenever the opportunity presented itself and this is after she told everyone that Jake was Lucky's."

"She watched Jake being kidnapped and didn't do anything to stop it," Jason argued.

"I'm not excusing anything she's done, Jason, but that doesn't give you the right to kill her and you know that," Carly shot back.

"I know it was wrong, Carly," Jason acknowledged.

"Then why did you do it?" Carly questioned.

"I was mad at her," Jason replied simply. The woman he had loved and trusted for so long had betrayed him twice in less than two months. Is it any wonder that he became enraged and said something in the heat of the moment? If he could take it back, he would. But he couldn't. "I wish that I could rewind time and tell Sam the truth from the beginning but I can't. She's gone."

"And here you are," Carly said, gesturing to the handcuffs around his wrists. "The prime suspect in her murder."

"I didn't kill her," he exclaimed. "I would rather cut off my own wrist than ever hurt her again."

"Personally, I'd rather hear you vow to slit Elizabeth's throat but I already know you didn't kill Sam, Jason." Carly shrugged, looking at him sadly. "But it's your blind devotion to her that put you here in jail and I don't see any way to get you out."

"This isn't Elizabeth's fault," Jason said. He knew that the reason he was here was because he had stupidly threatened Sam for Elizabeth but Elizabeth herself wasn't responsible for his arrest.

"Don't kid yourself, Jason." Carly rolled her eyes at his inability to see Elizabeth Spencer for who she really was. "Elizabeth is to blame for the mess that you made of your life. She's the reason that Sam broke up with you. She's the reason you don't have your son. Your inability to see Elizabeth for who she is put you here in prison because if it weren't for her, you never would have gone to Sam's that night and she might still be alive today. If you hadn't been so focused on protecting Elizabeth and her lies, you might have noticed that something was very wrong with Sam."

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked.

"Sam was not acting like herself," Carly told him incredulously. "And if I could see it, one has to wonder why [i]you[/i] didn't."

"I wasn't paying attention," Jason admitted and felt ashamed.

"And why is that?" Carly arched an inquiring eyebrow.

"Because Elizabeth-" Jason started to answer but Carly cut him off.

"Exactly," Carly cut him off, her eyes glittering with triumph. "Because of Elizabeth."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7  
**  
Spinelli and Maxie walked through the door of the penthouse and dropped the boxes in their hands when they saw Carly sitting on the couch, leaning back against one of the big cushions with her feet up on the table.

"How did it go?" She didn't even look their way as she asked the question. "Did you find anything?"

"Valkeryie," Spinelli mumbled nervously and at this, Carly finally looked at them. She smiled kindly at him. "Um, what brings you to Casa de Stone Cold?"

"Yeah, we thought you were visiting Jason in prison," Maxie commented as she brought one of the boxes over to the living room area and put it on the table.

Carly thought back to her conversation with Jason and she really hoped she made a dent in his iron-clad devotion to Elizabeth because if he couldn't realize that the woman was indeed responsible for his current predicament, she didn't know if anything anybody tried to help free him would make a difference.

Sooner or later, Elizabeth would get herself into trouble again and expect Jason to do something about it just like she had ran to him crying about how Sam was out to get her every time the woman glanced in her direction which eventually led up to the incidents with Jake and Jason threatening Sam.

"He has some things to think about," she explained cryptically. She glanced curiously at the four boxes Maxie had brought over. "What's all this?"

"The fruits of our labour," Spinelli replied, as he held a laptop she had never seen him with before snug against his chest as if it were something precious. "Our voyage to Fair Samantha's humble abode was very productive."

"Spinelli's going to go through her computer," Maxie told her and then she looked down at the boxes. "I'm going to sift through all this to see if there's anything."

"Didn't Alexis ask you to go over there to pack up photos and stuff?" Carly asked in confusion. The woman had been devastated over the loss of her eldest daughter and was barely keeping it together. Carly had been there with Jax to witness the meltdown Alexis had when Mac delivered the news of Sam's death.

Since then, Alexis took a temporary leave from the DA's office, appointing one of her ADA's as Acting DA until she returned. She explained that she wanted time to spend with her family so that they could mourn Sam's death together in private. Kristina was inconsolable. Molly was too young to understand that Sam was never coming back but her behaviour indicated she knew something was wrong.

"We delivered those earlier this morning," Maxie said, grabbing a stack of photos from one of the boxes and handing them to Carly. "I managed to save these though."

Carly thumbed through the photos and felt a tug at her heart looking at some snap pictures of Sam with Jason, Sam with Michael and Morgan, Sam with Kristina and Molly, and a few photos of Sam with Danny throughout the years. Some had been taken before Carly had met Sam and she could clearly see the devotion for one another in both of their eyes. A tear fell from her eyes but she wiped it away. Sam wasn't her friend. She wasn't anything but an inconvenience to her when she was alive. It didn't seem right to cry over her now.

Spinelli seemed to notice her sadness. "You and The Goddess had a lot in common. You may not have always gotten along but there was a sense of mutual respect and admiration between you."

"Thank you, Spinelli," Carly said as she put the photos down. "Why didn't you give these to Alexis with the rest of them?"

"Alexis would have burned the ones of Jason and Sam together anyway," Maxie reminded her of Alexis' distaste of her best friend. "But he was a major part of Sam's life for so long. I felt he should have some of them."

"You've certainly changed your tune." Maxie looked at her in blankly. "I thought you hated Jason."

"I do most of the time." She exhibited no signs of remorse for her remark. "He treated Sam pretty badly at the end. And I didn't like to see her so broken."

Carly nodded in understanding. Maxie was practically Sam's best friend so it was understandable that she was loyal to her, not Jason. That was something Carly could relate to herself. She was the exact same with Jason in his breakup with Sam. She took his side even though she could see Sam's side after she found out about Jake.

"What's all this?" Carly looked at the boxes curiously.

"Mostly papers from Sam's show," Maxie replied, looking at the boxes in annoyance. Everyday Heroes executives wanted the scripts and things they sent to Sam's apartment back and it was Maxie's job to sort through the papers.

"Who knows?" Spinelli shrugged from his place on the couch as he went through Sam's files. "There may be something to help clear Jason." Maxie nodded in agreement.

"Clear Jason?" Carly echoed curiously as she glanced at Maxie in surprise.

The younger girl rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. "Yes," she groaned. "Jason didn't kill Sam. Whoop-dee-do."

Spinelli was grinning. "Fair Maximista has joined the light side. She now believes that Stone Cold is innocent and has even agreed to help me in my quest."

Maxie flashed back to the conversation they had had with Jason in the prison the day before in which she had admitted that she thought Jason was innocent.

_Jason explained that Diane Miller was trying to get him released based on the fact that the prosecution had no case. She plans to point out that the only piece of evidence in their possession is a tape with an ambiguous statement and that the police didn't even know who had recorded it._

"You call threatening to kill Sam an ambiguous statement?"

"What I said was that I wouldn't be warning her again." Jason told her and noticed the flash of anger in the young girl's eyes. "It was said in the heat of the moment; I never would have followed through."

"Oh, save your excuses," Maxie waved an uncaring hand at him. "I already know you didn't kill Sam so don't bother."

The enforcer's head snapped up at the information. "You believe I'm innocent?" His voice was filled with disbelief. She had never definitively said she believed he was innocent or guilty but when she visited him in the interrogation room to grab Sam's murder file, her anger and accusatory tone led him to believe that she thought he had killed Sam.

"I informed Fair Maximista that you would never hurt The Goddess," Spinelli told Jason dutifully.

Maxie turned to Spinelli with a look of bewilderment on her face. "And I told you that that was a crock." Her eyes were full of aggravation. "He has hurt Sam plenty of times."

"Then what swayed you?" Spinelli asked his eyes full of curiosity and annoyance.

"Jason kills people for a living," Maxie told them simply as if that explained everything. When their faces filled with confusion, she sighed in frustration. Men were so dense. "If he were going to kill Sam, he wouldn't let himself lose control of his emotions and confront her like that. That threat was clearly an excited utterance or whatever."

"So you think I'm innocent because I've killed people?"

Maxie shrugged. "Exactly. That's your job so one would assume that you have to good at it if you've managed to elude the police so far." Her gaze turned back to Jason. "If you were going to kill Sam, you would've made sure there was no evidence left behind. You certainly wouldn't have left the gun there for the police to find." She smirked. "Even you're not that stupid."

"Thanks," Jason said dryly.

"Sam was the one who was acting strange." Carly looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"She was taunting Jason." Confusion filled her once again as she remembered the bit of their confrontation that had been recorded that she had heard thanks to Spinelli. "Sam practically provoked him into threatening her." Her friend's behaviour still baffled her.

Carly looked at her as a strange look crossed her face. Maxie saw it clearly. Carly knew something. "What is it?" she asked.

"For all her faults, one thing I admired about Sam was her instincts," Carly replied, looking around the room that had once been the place Sam called home. She could recall countless battles with Sam that took place in the very room she sat in. "She was usually very good at being aware of any situation. And she knew Jason better than most people so she would have known that he'd be furious with her when he found out about what she had done."

"So then why did Fair Samantha not try to explain herself rather than antagonize Stone Cold?" Spinelli wondered in confusion.

"Sam was playing with a loaded gun and she knew it." Carly was also very confused about why she would have pushed Jason instead of trying to calm down. She had plenty of experience with him in the past to know that when someone he loved was in danger, he would go on the attack. "Sam should have tried to calm him down."

"But she did the exact opposite," Maxie agreed, catching on to Carly's train of thought. "She egged him on."

"And the night of her death wasn't the first time she acted out of character." Carly pointed out.

"I thought she was just acting out because she was hurt and was mad that she got burned. She was always talking about how Jason betrayed her," Maxie filled them in on Sam's state of the mind after her break-up with Jason. "I thought she wanted to get even."

"But what if it was more than that?"

"What do you mean?" Carly asked, clearly nervous about what they were talking about.

"What if there was something behind her behaviour?"

"Maximista, it's natural to want to find answers. When a person does something horrible, their loved ones tend to convince themselves that there was some mitigating factor or some reason behind it," Spinelli began soothingly but his condescending behaviour annoyed her.

"Don't patronize me," Maxie turned on him angrily. "Unlike the two of you, I've actually been there for Sam these past few months. I was a friend to her when you couldn't be bothered, Spinelli."

Spinelli drew back from her, wounded.

"I'm not trying to hurt your feelings," Maxie's voice softened immediately. "My point is that I was around. And Sam changed. I'm telling you that something happened to her."

Spinelli turned his attention back to the computer in front of him and paled at what he read. "Or perhaps someone," he replied.

Maxie was confused at first until she read the email that Spinelli had up on the screen. "It begins with Allegra?" Carly stiffened beside her. "Does that mean something to you?"

"Sam and Jason met a woman named Allegra a few years ago," Carly said and explained the situation that the woman had forced them into. "Her daughter Allie was supposed to marry a very rich man so they would be set for life but she refused, claiming she wasn't in love with Andrew."

"But how did Allegra expect Stone Cold and Fair Samantha to help her?" Spinelli asked.

"She wanted Sam to take Allie's place."

After hearing the plan to fool the man into marrying Sam instead of the daughter, Maxie chuckled in disbelief. "Look, Sam is hot but what did Allegra think was going to happen? She was going to replace Allie with Sam? And then what?" She shrugged dramatically. "Hope this Andrew guy wouldn't notice?" She looked at him skeptically.

"It wouldn't have been too hard to fool him since Allie and Sam looked alike."

"They looked alike?" Maxie's heart started to race and her voice was very shaky. "How alike were they?" Her panic hit an all-time high at Carly's answer.

"They were identical." Carly explained that Allie had pinned Andrew's murder on Sam but she managed to turn the table with Allegra's help. Sam had lured Allie to the jail, knocked her out and switched places with her, leaving Allie to rot behind bars for the crime she committed.

"Oh my God," Maxie gasped as realization dawned on her. It was next to impossible to believe but yet it somehow made sense. It definitely explained Sam's behaviour the past few months. "Was that Allie?"

Maxie looked to Spinelli instantly. "Can you find out if she's still in prison?" Spinelli started typing immediately.

After a few minutes he announced that Allie had been broken out of prison with the help of an unknown accomplice almost four months prior to Sam's supposed murder.

"It has to be Allie!" Maxie exclaimed passionately. "That bitch. Wait until I get my hands on her."

"If the theory that Allie has been living Sam's life these past few months, then it was she that the cops found dead," Spinelli reminded her.

"Right." Maxie grumbled. Then she turned to look at Spinelli with a terror in her eyes. "If that was Allie, then where the hell is Sam?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Here's the next instalment. Leave some words if you're feeling generous. Enjoy._

**Chapter Eight**

Sam entered the kitchen to find John and Anthony already seated at the table eating the food that had been placed before them. The scene unnerved her. They looked like a father and son sitting down together enjoying their morning breakfast; but the truth was very different from the misleading scene before her.

A month had passed since she had learned the truth about her situation. In that time, she had gotten to know John a little and discovered that like her, he had had a difficult childhood. Like her, he had spent most of his life without a mother and had Anthony for a father, who for most of those years was certifiable.

"When you peel back the curtain, you'll find that things are rarely as they seem," John had told her when she had expressed her sympathy for him. Everyone had a bad childhood these days had been the point he was trying to make.

They shared the same gloomy outlook as well. Her attitude was one thing she didn't consider a bad thing about herself. While her childhood and most of her adulthood had hardened her, she found it also gave her amazing strength; without it, she never would have been able to claw her way out of messes she thought were hopeless.

"Sam." John noticed her in the doorway and motioned for her to come in. "You're up early." He had decided to stay at home to get to know his sister. In that time, he had never seen her rise before noon.

"Morning," Sam replied and sat down in a chair at the long dining table, choosing a seat close to the middle of the table. "What's the occasion?"

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked.

"You two have never eaten breakfast together since I've been here before." She watched them exchange nervous looks. "What is it?"

"Today is a special occasion," John answered shortly and he glared at Anthony.

"Is the Pope coming?" Sam joked, trying to lighten the mood. The tension between father and son was so thick she could almost see it curling off each of them like smoke.

"Worse," Anthony grumbled.

John's glare hardened. "Dad," he barked at his father in annoyance. He turned his attention back to Sam. "Claudia is expected back in a few minutes."

Sam stiffened at the mention of her half-sister. "She is?"

"Yes," Anthony muttered through clenched teeth. "And she is early." He turned to John and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Too early."

"Give her a little credit, would you?" John asked tiredly. "You always assume that she has failed you in some way."

"She wasn't supposed to be back for another month at least," Anthony cut in, wagging his finger at his son. "She asked me to give her more responsibility in the family, I did and here she is returning sooner than she should be."

"Maybe she blew them away and the negotiations ended earlier than expected."

"Or she botched the job." He turned to Sam curiously. "Which do you think is the more likely result?" He filled her in on the situation.

Sam looked between the two of them who were watching her expectantly, both a little too eager for her answer. She chose the safe route and simply shrugged. "To be honest, the family business is a little over my head. I guess it could have gone either way."

John nodded in acceptance while Anthony snorted at her answer.

"Or you don't want to alienate your sister before you even meet her." He said it softly but Sam knew he intended for her to hear.

She put her elbow on the table and leaned against it while she looked at him curiously. "And why would I do that?" she asked, shaking her head incredulously.

If he thought she was worried about what Claudia might think of her, he definitely didn't know her that well. Her days of bending over backwards to make people she didn't even know accept her and/or feel better about themselves were long behind her.

Anthony pretended to mull it over. "I don't know." He gave her a knowing look. "Why would you?"

"Perhaps I don't feel like getting into an argument that has nothing to do with me."

"On the contrary, it has everything to do with you." Anthony looked around the room pointedly. "The Zacchara organization is as much yours as it is Claudia's and John's."

"But there's a difference." Sam pointed to John. "They want a piece of it for themselves. Your organization could burn to the ground and I wouldn't even bat an eyelash."

"If you despise our way of life so much, why did you stay with Morgan for so long?"

Sam averted her gaze at the mention of Jason. Anger and pain burst through her veins and when she looked back at them, she wasn't surprised at the sympathetic faces she saw.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I never said I had a problem with it." She was thankful that her voice was strong when she felt anything but the strength she was able to fake.

"Women like you tend to think our life is dangerous," Anthony began to say but Sam cut him off.

"There are no other women like me and if I thought the life was too dangerous, I wouldn't have stuck around for so long." She watched a smile play along her father's lips and what appeared to be pride light up his brown eyes that she had finally noticed did look a lot like her own. "I value my own life above any other now."

"I don't believe that," John argued, shaking his head in support of his argument. "You care about them more than you want to."

"That was then," Sam responded coldly, turning away from him and his hopeful glance in her direction.

She knew he was trying to find the Sam that Jason Morgan had crushed but she wasn't going to succeed. That Sam was going to stay buried where she belonged. This Sam couldn't afford to be hurt like that again.

"Johnny!" A woman's voice called out for her brother and Sam looked up curiously. "Pops! I'm home."

That voice sounded surprisingly warm and friendly but yet guarded at the same time. When she finally appeared in the kitchen, Sam knew without a doubt that it was her sister standing before her regarding her with a blank expression and suspicious eyes.

Jason glanced up at the door to the penthouse apartment tiredly. "What is it?" He didn't have the energy to feign interest in whatever she wanted.

Elizabeth Spencer regarded him with concern. "When was the last time you ate something?" she asked.

He lifted his head in surprise upon hearing her voice. Seeing the concern and excitement in her eyes irritated him. He had been out of prison for a mere three days and already she was coming by after he specifically told her to stay away from him.

"I don't remember," he replied tersely. When she came over to sit beside him, he abruptly rose from his seat and walked over to the pool table.

Her wounded eyes followed his every move. "Is everything okay?" she asked meekly.

"I thought we agreed we should stay away from each other." He watched her look down for a moment, in what he could only assume was guilt. This was all her idea after all and here she was, once again violating their agreement. "If you expect Jake to remain safe, you should keep your distance."

Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed. "I was worried about you," she spoke softly but he could hear the underlying anger in her voice.

"Don't be," he told her tiredly, rolling his eyes. "I can take care of myself. Jake can't, and he is way more important than whatever you think is between us."

After Carly had left him, he had seriously considered everything she had told him. While he knew that he was responsible for his own choices and actions, he was the only one to blame for the way things had turned out.

Losing the love of his life had put things into perspective for him. Being distracted by his son and the obligations he believed he had to both him and Elizabeth and that distraction had cost him dearly.

He had sacrificed so much for Elizabeth, turned his life upside down and inside out in order to give her what she needed to raise their son. He kept her secrets, gave up his son, and lost the one person who ever truly made him happy. What had she lost? What had she sacrificed? Nothing.

"I know you're grieving," Elizabeth began, and she swallowed uncomfortably as she inwardly cringed at the idea of Jason mourning Sam's death. "And I want to help you through it." She stood up and came over to him. "Let me be here for you, just like she was." She reached her hand out to touch his shoulder soothingly.

Jason recoiled before her hand made contact and put some distance between them. "You are the last person that I want help from." He wouldn't have been able to hide his anger and disgust if he tried.

"How can you say that to me?" Elizabeth was appalled. "Don't you know how much I care about you? It hurts me to see you like this."

"Like what?" He demanded angrily.

"In pain, miserable because of what happened to her," She shouted back, swinging her arms around frantically. "Why can't you see that she isn't worth this self-torment? She was never worth anything she put you through."

"She played on your guilt and she must be loving what she's doing to you now." The words flew out of her mouth before she realized that she was saying them and immediately, Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hand. But it was too late.

He turned on her with narrowed eyes. "She isn't doing anything to me. She is dead. You're the cause of all my misery and if it weren't for you, she would still be here."

Elizabeth paled at his words. "You're blaming me for Sam getting herself killed?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Unbelievable. Have you forgotten the kind of person she turned into, all the things she did before she died?"

Before he could answer, Carly stormed into the apartment, oblivious to the fact that he had a guest. "Jason, I need to talk to you right now. It's very important."

The scoff that escaped Elizabeth's mouth caused Carly to turn to her in surprise. "Everything is always life or death with you, Carly."

Carly smirked. "I'm speaking to Jason," she said curtly, shooting her friend a questioning glance. Jason shook his head in response. "It's private so excuse us."

"I'm not going anywhere," Elizabeth said stubbornly.

"You shouldn't even be here." His voice was cold and commanding. "Go home to your family."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Jason, we need to finish talking."

"No," Jason shook his head as he walked over to the door, holding it open for her. "We're done."

She gave him a look that told him that they weren't done and he glared harder at her in response. Deciding that it might be best to let him cool down, Elizabeth retrieved her purse and stormed out.

"She seems upset," Carly remarked, her smirk widening into a giddy grin. "And I couldn't be happier about it."

"Knock it off." Jason looked at her expectantly.

Carly took a deep breath and they both sat down on the couch together. Suddenly her expression turned serious which alarmed him. "I've been holding off on telling you this because I wanted to be absolutely sure that it was real and not just someone's idea of a sick joke."

"What are you talking about?"

"Spinelli and Maxie did a little digging into the shooting," Carly said, referring to the shooting that had supposedly killed Sam. "They found something."

"What?"

"It was enough to raise a few eyebrows so they started an unofficial investigation."

Jason glared at her. "Get to the point, please."

"Sam is still alive," Carly snapped in annoyance. She really hated it when he spoke to her like she was aggravating him.

He froze and his eyes widened in shock. "What?"

She explained about the email and their suspicions about Allie. "She was released around the time Sam started acting weird." She told him since Sam and he had broken up, it would have been easy to make the switch.

"So you think that was Allie was killed, not Sam?" Hope sprung to life in his heart but he still remained skeptical.

"Dental records confirm our theory, plus Maxie was able to get the coroner's report by sweet-talking some guy that works at the morgue." There had been pictures of a tattoo on the ankle of the body.

"Sam doesn't have a tattoo on her ankle," Jason said immediately. He had seen her body enough times to know that for sure.

"We figured that out," Carly said, nodding in agreement. "And Spinelli and Maxie are pretty sure that Jerry Jacks was the one that took Sam. He was the one that broke Allie out of prison. Surveillance footage and facial-recognition software confirms it."

"Where is he?" Jason's voice was now deadly, and his cobalt eyes burned with rage that he was looking forward to taking out on Jerry.

"His body was found last week." Carly told him and then explained that he had been dead for almost a month. "He was shot between the eyes, execution-style. Someone really wanted him dead and I think that it was whoever hired him to take Sam."

"So if she is alive, where is she?"

Carly shrugged helplessly at the fear in her friend's eyes. "I have no idea."


	9. Chapter 9

_Claudia is not exactly the same woman in my story. She has the some of the same background (I haven't ironed everything out), Michael was never shot so she's not to blame for that, Claudia did sleep with Sonny but it was a one night stand. While she did know who he was, it wasn't about getting him to notice her. It was to put him off his game at the meeting the next day when Anthony introduced her to everyone at the meeting. That said, here's the next instalment. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_Carly Jacks felt her rage building as her unwanted guest continued to taunt her. _

"_And now Elizabeth," she continued and enjoyed every bit of hatred that passed through Carly's features. "Oh, holier-than-thou Elizabeth, who you just might dislike a teeny bit more than me, has given him the son he's always wanted. I mean, that's certainly something that you haven't given him." She shrugged carelessly at her as she pulled out the knife Carly felt in her back just a little bit, twisted it in her wound and shoved it back in mercilessly. "And he didn't tell you—his big, best friend." _

_Carly backed away from her and started to walk around to put some distance between them. But, of course, she followed her every step. _

"_It took me a little while to get over the shock, too," she started to say and then her voice took on a sarcastic tone. "And with you and Jason being such B.F.F. and all, I'm sure the betrayal you must be feeling is, like, ugh!" _

"_There was a DNA test," Carly rationalized. _

_The other woman's eyebrows shot up. "And you think Elizabeth is above lying?" She leaned forward and shook her head. "Really?" _

"_I was there the night Jake was born, I saw that baby in Jason's arms, and I heard him say the words, 'my son'." _

_Carly looked at her in surprise. "And you kept quiet all this time?" Her voice was incredulous.  
_

_The other woman's features darkened. "Not out of the goodness of my heart, trust me on that." _

"_That's the truth, Sam," Carly snapped, not noticing the way the woman rolled her eyes at the name._

"_It is all the truth," she shook her head. "Every last word I can see you're being slammed by—and they did look like quite the happy family that night. And there I was on the outside, there was Lucky on the outside and here you are, Carly—most definitely not as inside the inner circle as you think, huh?" _

_Carly shook her head in denial once again. "All I have to do is go to Jason, and he will tell me that this is a lie." Her voice was shaky, almost as if she knew the truth, though she couldn't bear to admit it. _

"_Will he?" she asked indulgently, cocking her head to the side mockingly. "Or is he just going to keep on lying?"_

Carly blocked out the rest of the memory of the day she was told about Jason's son. She had hated the messenger with a passion long before that day, and her deviousness was way over the top but she had been too blinded by rage and betrayal to realize it.

As she raised her hand to knock on the door before her, she wondered why she couldn't see what was right in front of her for so long. Allie, the woman that had been filling Sam's shoes for so long, visibly flinched every time she was called by her doppelganger's name.

How had Allie fooled everybody so easily? Carly admitted that she disliked Sam, but she felt that she knew her well enough to know when something was wrong with her.

Looking back on the many confrontations she'd had with Allie, she could see many signs that she wasn't who she said she was. And she had missed every single one of them; Carly realized and hung her head low in shame.

The door opened in front of her and she heard the heavy sigh that escaped the other person's mouth. "What do you want, Carly?" Elizabeth Spencer asked in irritation.

Now here was a woman she wouldn't miss, Carly thought wickedly as she pushed past Elizabeth and breezed into the home she shared with her cousin, Lucky Spencer, completely ignoring the whiny protests.

"We need to talk," she announced as she found a place on a chair in the living room and helped herself to it.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she shut her door and faced the woman she hated more than any other. She had finally been rid of one nuisance and she wondered why God wouldn't rid her of this one too. "About what?" she asked carelessly.

"Jason," Carly told her matter of fact. "And why you won't stay the hell away from him."

She opened her mouth to fire back at her but Carly stopped her.

"I mean, haven't you put him through enough?" Carly looked at the most recent picture of Jake and felt a wave of anger hit her. "First you cost him his one chance at true happiness, then you bullied him into giving up his son and now you're barging into his house where you're clearly not wanted at a time when he is vulnerable."

"I was concerned about him," Elizabeth immediately defended herself. "Sam's death has hit him really hard and as his friend, I wanted to be there for him."

Carly's eyes were bright with humour. "With friends like you, who needs enemies?"

"This coming from you?" Elizabeth scoffed in disbelief. "You treat Jason worse than you say I do. He's not your friend. He's the one that cleans up after you every time you make a mess of your life."

"Hey, I'm not perfect," Carly stared her down unapologetically. "I'm far from it, actually. I sometimes take advantage of Jason, I do lie to him but the difference is that when I lie, it usually comes from a good place. You, on the other hand, lie about everything you do and wait for somebody else to make everything go away, all the while acting as if you're some innocent victim."

"And at least I support Jason," she added as an afterthought. "And believe in him."

Elizabeth looked at her in shock. "I love Jason. I support him. I've always believed in him."

"Really?" Carly challenged, and raised her brows inquiringly. "You don't love him enough to allow him to raise his own son. You don't support his lifestyle. And you obviously don't believe in him because you always assume the worst of him."

"You actually thought he killed Sam," she rose from her seat and looked at the woman before her angrily. "Are you insane? Jason would never willingly harm a hair on that woman's body, not even after all the damage you did to their relationship."

"Oh, so now I'm to blame for their breakup as well?" She looked genuinely offended. "Sam betrayed him and then left him while he was in prison for murder. Are you seriously going to pin her mistakes on me?"

"Sam would never intentionally hurt Jason." Carly narrowed her eyes at the arguments she saw on the tip of Elizabeth's tongue. "She had to have been in a really desperate state at the time and you are the cause of all the misery she was feeling then. I know that and so does Jason. Why do you think it took him so long to tell you about it the things she did?"

"You know, Sam routinely got on my nerves when she and Jason were together." A grin spread across her face as she watched Elizabeth's face twist with rage. The woman literally looked sick to her stomach. "But I admired that she never backed down when I started in on her, even when she walked away from the fight itself just so she wouldn't cause any problems for Jason."

Carly smiled wistfully. "She loved him so much. Sam made him happier than I'd ever seen him. He was smiling all the time, even cracking jokes—she had performed a miracle. And I hated her for it."

"Is there a point to all this or did you come here just to torture me?" Elizabeth whined.

Carly regarded her with disgust. "Why do you always assume everything is about you?" She looked around the woman's home, marvelling at how convincing her lie of a happy family with Lucky was. "Don't you know by now that I care nothing about you?"

"Hell, I wouldn't have even shed a tear if you were the one that got killed instead of Sam." She hadn't meant to sound so vicious but Elizabeth's condescending, self-absorbed behaviour was really starting to tick her off.

Elizabeth looked around her house and then swung her gaze back to Carly. "If you don't care about me, then why are you even here?"

"I already told you," Carly spat angrily, sitting back down. "I want you to stay away from Jason."

"We've already agreed to stay away from each other," Elizabeth complained as she ran a frustrated hand through her matted hair.

"Yet you keep showing up at his door," Carly pointed out. "I thought the whole point of your manipulation was that Jake would be in danger if the world knew that Jason was his father."

"If that's the case, you should keep your distance because even the slightest connection to Jason makes you and your boys targets."

"It was a mistake to go to the penthouse the other day," Elizabeth acknowledged as she came to sit down on the couch. "I realize that now but I just wanted to make sure that he was okay. He had just been released from prison and he's still under suspicion for murder."

"Jason has all the support he needs," Carly looked at her in disdain. "He doesn't need you, nor does he want you coming around all the time."

"I just said that I would stay away," Elizabeth shouted in exasperation.

"Do I have your word on that?" Carly snapped, chuckling in disbelief, and as soon as she felt she had made her point, she took a deep, calming breath. "Believe it or not, I didn't come here to fight. I came here to warn you."

"Warn me?" Elizabeth snorted incredulously. "You would push me in front of a moving vehicle if you thought you could get away with it."

"Don't be silly," Carly laughed, waving her hand at Elizabeth's paranoia. "I'd get behind the wheel of my car and run you down if I thought I could get away with it."

"Exactly," Elizabeth said stonily. "What could you possibly be here to warn me about if you hate me so much?"

"I hate you but I don't hate your sons or Lucky." Carly looked around at all the pictures again and realized that she wasn't lying. She and Lucky had their differences but he was still her cousin and that meant she felt a certain amount of loyalty to him. "It's not their fault that you're their mother or that you're a selfish moron who is incapable of putting her children's needs ahead of her own."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you need to stay away from Jason before your boys end up paying the price for your stupidity," Carly leaned forward and stared Elizabeth straight in the eyes to let her know how serious she was. "You've been telling Jason that his life is dangerous, moaning about how terrified you are for Jake's safety, but have you even thought about Cameron? That your actions affect him too?"

Elizabeth paled. "What about him?" she asked fearfully.

"Cameron is your son," Carly reminded her in annoyance. "If you think that Jason's enemies won't hesitate to hurt both him and Jake because of your friendship or whatever you're calling it now with Jason, you're dead wrong."

"Sam and Jason aren't even dating anymore and look what happened to her."

Elizabeth whipped her head up at the mention of Sam. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"Sam had a connection to Jason, a severed connection, but obviously that doesn't matter because she's dead."

"Sam wasn't killed by Jason's enemies," Elizabeth argued.

"How do you know? Were you there?" Carly snapped angrily. "Or do you still think Jason killed her?" Given the fact that Sam was alive, Carly knew it was risky to use her supposed death to her advantage but she had a feeling that fear for her children's safety might be the only thing to snap some sense into the desperate woman.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I see your point." She didn't like admitting that Carly was right.

"Then be a good mother for once," Carly snatched her purse and put her coat back on after she rose from her seat. "And stay away from my best friend."

"Oh, go to hell," Elizabeth called after her.

"So you cheated on my mother with her mom," Claudia Zacchara spoke evenly to her father. It was clear the news didn't surprise her.

"Your mother and I were on the verge of a divorce," Anthony defended his actions and wasn't surprised when both his daughters rolled their eyes.

"Your numerous affairs are not news to me," his eldest daughter informed him. "I knew you were unfaithful to Mother all the time, Daddy."

"You were five years old," Anthony said incredulously.

Claudia shrugged carelessly. "So? You think a five year old can't pick up on that kind of tension?" She then shifted her gaze to Sam McCall. "You've never given me enough credit," she went on as she kept her eyes fixed on her new-found younger sister.

"And you never stop whining about that," Anthony responded, pulling away from the table and wheeling over to where both his daughters stood. "This is your sister." He introduced both of them.

Claudia regarded Sam cautiously as she reluctantly held out her hand to greet her.

Sam stared at the outstretched hand and silently debated whether or not she would accept it. She didn't know much about Claudia. Apparently, she hadn't shown up in Port Charles until after Sam was already taken. From what she could see, her sister wasn't at all like her father painted her.

She seemed friendly enough. Feisty and suspicious, of course, but those were traits Sam could understand and respect; she even shared them, along with the same dark hair that flowed down Claudia's back, stopping a few inches above her hips.

"I'm not going to bite," Claudia's voice interrupted her thoughts with her hand still reaching for hers.

Sam cracked an amused smile and accepted her hand, shaking it firmly. The ice had been broken. "Sam McCall," she said softly.

"Claudia Zacchara."

"Our sister," John joined them, standing a little closer to Claudia as he spoke. "It's a little overwhelming isn't it?"

Claudia nodded at her brother in agreement before she turned to Sam. "I would say welcome to the family but I'm guessing you've heard a lot about us so that wouldn't really win you over."

Sam smirked in amusement. Claudia was surprisingly funny. "If you're worried about the craziness surrounding your family affecting my opinion of you, don't. My mother's family puts yours to shame."

Both of them looked confused.

"Sam's mother was Natasha Davidovich," Anthony said as if that explained everything.

"I'm a Cassadine," Sam translated, feeling uneasy about their reaction. It was weird but she already felt a connection to both John and Claudia and while she promised she would not change herself to please others, she silently hoped her siblings would accept her.

"Oh," John said, knowing his girlfriend's half-brother was a Cassadine. "So then we must seem pretty normal to you, huh?"


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey, all. Here's the next installment. Hope you like it. Now I'm off to cram for the exam I have Friday on Laboratory Safety. Enjoy._

* * *

Chapter Ten

Carly smiled at Jason when he opened the door for her the next morning. Ever since her confrontation with Elizabeth, she had been feeling more confident. She felt like she had a bounce in her step as she walked over to Jason's couch and sank down, stretching herself out amongst the comfortable cushions.

She looked up at him and frowned. "What?" She had finally noticed the scowl on his face.

He rolled his eyes as he sat in the chair. "They haven't found anything."

Carly's expression softened, realizing that his army of private investigators and other diligent employees were unable to find a location on Sam.

"No trace of her," he ground out in frustration. He raked his hand through his hair. "Not a spec of info. It's like she truly vanished into thin air."

"More likely, whoever has her is an expert at covering their tracks," she told him and frowned. She had meant to sound encouraging but it had come out all wrong. "They'll make a mistake eventually." She added.

Jason considered her words for a minute before answering. "I'd be more interested in a motive at this point," he confessed, looking momentarily panicked. He then told her that he couldn't fathom why anyone, even his enemies, would hold Sam for so long. "We don't even know how long she's been missing!"

"I'd wager longer than a month," Carly said, cringing at the tortured look in his eyes.

"I didn't even notice," he admitted, looking down in shame. "I couldn't tell the differences. Allie had me completely snowed."

"She had us all fooled," Carly reminded him, hoping he would take comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one who had been duped so easily. It was pathetic no matter how they looked at it or tried to rationalize it.

"Something was different with her," Jason insisted, pounding the table in frustration. "I knew something had changed. It nagged at me that night but I shoved the feeling down deep so it wouldn't bother me."

"Jason, I think Sam has been missing since shortly after Allie escaped." Carly wanted to slit her throat for blurting her theory out as she watched Jason process the information, complete horror and disgust shining in his tear-filled eyes. But since she had already said that, she didn't think it'd make much of a difference if she delivered the next blow.

"And I think it was Allie who did those terrible things to Jake."

Agony burst through Jason's veins as he absorbed Carly's words. It was one thing to wonder in the far corners of his mind if it had been Allie that had stood by while Jake was kidnapped and hired men to attack Elizabeth in the park, but hearing the harsh words coming from his best friend's lips was too much for him to take.

He'd ignored the doubts in his mind when Amelia told him that Sam had watched her take Jake from his stroller and didn't say anything because at the time, there had been no rational explanation as to why he felt that Amelia was mistaken or there had been something more sinister at work. But he couldn't do that anymore.

Of course it wasn't Sam. It had all been Allie. And he had fallen for it. Hook, line and sinker.

"I played right into her hands," Jason voiced the realization aloud and clenched his hands into fists as a new wave of anger and grief swept over him. "They had me so blinded with rage that I didn't even stop to think things through. It didn't even register."

"What?" Carly asked curiously, wondering what in the world he was talking about.

"Sam would never hurt a child!" Jason exclaimed furiously. "I know that. She was accused of taking Kristina a while back; I didn't doubt her then but I did when it came to my own child! How could I be so stupid?"

Carly stood up from her seat and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Stop feeling guilty over this," she said, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly. "Someone that looked exactly like Sam was responsible for those things. Jason, you didn't attack Sam herself; it was all Allie."

She hoped he understood that she was trying to tell him that Sam had probably been missing the entire time and by the horrified look in his eyes, she didn't think he did. But she was wrong. Jason had just come to a sick realization.

"Sam didn't even know about Jake."

Carly's eyes bulged in their sockets as she realized the same thing. "God, what a nightmare!" She looked at Jason in concern. "Do you think she knows now?"

"If my enemies have her, there's no doubt in my mind that they've told her." Jason grunted, narrowing his eyes in anger again at whoever had taken Sam away. "And if that's the case, I'll have a hard time convincing her to leave with me if I ever find her."

Claudia approached Sam wearily the following week. "So," she started to speak but suddenly lost her voice when she saw the tears swimming in her sister's eyes. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she dragged Sam to the kitchen table.

When they were both sitting, she found her voice again. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping Sam would open up to her.

Sam gazed in to her sister's concerned gaze. It was funny to remember that a week ago they had been strangers and now Claudia Zacchara was worried about her.

"Everything's fine," she shrugged carelessly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Claudia rolled her eyes and then leaned back in her chair, her piercing gaze never wavering. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that ex of yours, Corinthos' enforcer, would it?"

Apparently, Claudia was as perceptive as her brother and Sam herself, which was incredibly annoying now that the shoe was on the other foot.

"I met your Jason once," Claudia continued, ignoring the glare that was sent her way. She smiled dreamily. "Now that man is fine."

Sam smirked. "He is very handsome," she agreed weakly. What an understatement.

"But that's where his appeal ends," Claudia concluded grimly, her eyes narrowing slightly. "First, he's a dolt who won't wipe his own ass without an order. Second, he let you go and for that whiny little mouse Elizabeth Spencer, no less."

"I left him," Sam clarified meaningfully and then arched her brow.

"Thank God!" Claudia's face flushed with relief. "It's good to know that I have a sister with brains." She leaned forward excitedly. "I cannot stand Elizabeth Spencer."

"You're not the only one," Sam remarked as she thought about her own growing hatred for the nurse that had taken everything she had ever waned away from her. "There aren't enough of us but there are more than you'd think."

"Your friend Maxie being one of them, right?" Claudia asked, curiosity lighting up her brown eyes.

Sam's face brightened at the mention of the loudmouth blonde she had grown to adore since the day she came running up to her while she still worked at the MetroCourt, desperate for a pair of shoes to wear to her interview at the boutique.

"Maxie is great," Sam nodded at her sister's question. "She's one of the best people I know." Sam explained how Maxie had lost tragically lost her baby sister Georgie to a psychotic maniac earlier that year, coerced Damian Spinelli into helping her track down her sister's killer, and because of that, found a great true and loyal friend in Spinelli who coupled with her sister's loss helped her mature beyond her young years. "To be completely honest, she can be a real bitch."

Claudia's mouth dropped open at the description. "Wow, I've never heard someone say that as if it were a good thing before."

Sam shrugged. "She pulls a lot of crap but she owns up to it. Doesn't make excuses it, and really doesn't give a damn what other people think of her," she said, trying to explain.

Claudia's face expressed understanding. "I can see why that kind of person would appeal to you as a friend. She sounds great." She looked around the room and smirked.

"Deep down, she's got a really great heart," Sam added as though it were the most important thing about Maxie, which to her, it was. "And she's very loyal to the people she cares about."

"Now that I can respect," Claudia nodded in approval, thinking of the undying loyalty she felt towards John and now Sam. "And relate to."

Claudia suddenly reached across the table, taking Sam's hand in her own, squeezing it lightly. "I'm here for you, Sam; as your big sister, as your friend—whatever you need." Pulling her hand back, she looked up at her with hope in her eyes. "I want you to know that you can count on me."

Sam raised her tearful gaze to her sister, who would never know how much it meant to her to know that she had family that would forever be on her side. Though it was clear that Alexis loved her and was trying to be more understanding and accepting, there would always be that part of her that wanted more and expect that Sam should be better than she was.

"I really needed to hear that." Then she smiled at Claudia. "I'm here for you too."

After the understanding was reached and a few minutes had passed, Claudia suddenly leaned back in her chair. "So, tell me about Jason." Then she gestured to the room, her lazy smile quickly turning into a sassy grin. "Feel free to unburden your soul to me."

And after her laughter died down, Sam began to tell her all about the man that was surely the love of her life and about the man who crushed her, hurt her worse than she ever thought she could be.


	11. Chapter 11

_I know it's been a while and I apologize but life gets in the way sometimes. Here's the next instalment. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"You asked me to keep my ears open."

Anthony turned around to look at Owen Wilkin, a local snitch and confidential informant to the PCPD who was now on his payroll. "Oh?" he indulged the young man, who looked a little too serious for so early in the morning, a clear indication that whatever it was; he probably didn't want to hear about it right now.

"Someone's been asking questions." Owen swallowed uncomfortably. "I think he is one of Corinthos' foot soldiers."

"You're coming to me with speculation?" Anthony asked incredulously. "If I wanted an opinion, I would watch the news."

Owen's temper flared at his boss's treatment. He knew he would regret working for Anthony one day and this was hardly the first time he'd had doubts but now he knew that the man was too unpredictable. He reached into his suit to grab the photos from the inner breast pocket and tossed them onto the desk.

"Who else would be handing those out as if they were free candy?" he sneered and then added that the man had left a number for people to contact if they happen to recognize either of the people in the photos.

Anthony gazed at the photos of his deceased employee Jerry Jacks and his youngest daughter Sam McCall, feeling his blood begin to boil.

"Morgan knows," Owen voiced the conclusion that the mob boss had just drawn him self. "It's clear he doesn't know about you but he's suspicious enough to be asking questions."

"How many people know about this?" Anthony looked at his employee with a warning in his eyes as he put the pictures back down on the desk.

Owen pointed to himself as he answered. "Nobody else outside of you and me."

"Good," Anthony replied, rolling around the desk and made a small gesture to the video camera hanging in the far corner of the room. "Let's keep it that way."

A look of confusion crossed Owen's face as he looked back at his boss but he didn't have time to think about what Anthony meant because a bullet pierced his back and went straight through his heart, killing him on impact.

"Deal with this," Anthony managed to grit out as his rage became all powerful.

Jason Morgan either knew or suspected that Sam wasn't really dead and it would only be a matter of time before he figured out the truth about her. And he couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let Morgan take his daughter away from him, and he would never give him the chance to hurt her again either.

As he passed his men on the way out of the room he threw a quick look at the room over his shoulder, glaring in anger. "Burn those damn pictures while you're at it."

About twenty minutes went by after Anthony left and his men soon followed. Claudia finally peered around the corner of her hiding space, wedged between two of her father's massive bookshelves, an expression of disbelief spread across her features.

She had been struggling with a decision for days and after witnessing the confrontation between her father and one of his most trusted employees, she was convinced more than ever that she should do what she had been dying to do ever since she had seen Sam crying.

She needed to see this Jason Morgan again. Since she did know that Sam was alive for sure, where she was and that she was a Zacchara, she would have the advantage. One thing she hated when facing an enemy was not having the upper hand and as she approached his front door an hour later, she grinned because she had about three up on the enforcer.

As the eldest of the Zacchara children it was natural for her to feel protective over her younger siblings but it still amazed her that she was so protective of Sam after knowing her for only a few weeks.

Claudia knocked on the door, looking around nervously for any of the guards that she managed to slip past. It really was pathetic how easily she got up to Morgan's house. Arrange for one of her father's attractive whores to cause a scene in the lobby of the building and every man on Jason Morgan's payroll seemed to leave their posts.

"Are you expecting company?" Carly looked at the door curiously.

Jason shook his head in response as he rose from his seat. "I rarely expect company, but that never stops people from stopping by," he muttered, looking at her pointedly as he opened the door.

"I'm not company," Carly shot back good-naturedly. "I'm your best friend which is why I come and go as I please."

"Hey, blue eyes," Claudia greeted him before he saw her and Morgan's head suddenly snapped in her direction and she could see the mutiny in his gaze.

"What do you want?" He demanded immediately, and then looked past her out into the hallway. "How did you get up here?"

"I have my ways," she replied, pushing past him and walking into his apartment without even a glance in his direction. Seeing Carly and the rage in the blonde's eyes, she raised her hands. "I come in peace."

"You're a Zacchara," Jason reminded her stonily, closing the door behind him. "Sonny isn't here."

"I'm not here about Sonny. I rocked his world, not the other way around." She was insulted by the notion that she would have run over here, defied her father, and go to the jerk that broke her sister's heart all for the midget mobster.

"Then why are you here?" Carly asked, ignoring all the talk about Sonny. She didn't care that Claudia and Sonny had been intimate. She knew that it was a way to get power over Sonny on Claudia's part and she was surprised—and weirdly impressed—that Claudia didn't try to pretend otherwise.

Carly loved her own husband and no longer felt insanely jealous when another woman was in Sonny's bed like she had in the past. Now when those women were around her children… well, that was another story.

"To discuss the truce between our two organizations," Claudia replied, looking between the two of them as she spoke. She wasn't sure how to approach the subject now that she was standing face to face with Jason.

"You broke the truce when you tried to use one of our piers," Jason told her harshly. "Your family will have to suffer the consequences."

_You're lucky I don't break your skull, you blind moron_, the grim thought crossed Claudia's mind. She glanced around the room and a photo on the desk caught her eye. She studied it closely and realized that it was of Jerry. Her gaze shot back to Jason and she smirked. Maybe he wasn't as dense as she thought.

Jason, catching the subtle glance, looked at her curiously. "Do you recognize him?" he asked, pointing to the photograph of Jerry he had clipped to the autopsy report Spinelli had managed to obtain for him.

Claudia made a show of looking back at the photo and cringing, her shriveling her nose in disgust. "He's psychotic and he's a slime ball." She rolled her eyes. "Always calling me darling as if we were lovers."

She scoffed incredulously. "Maybe in his dreams," she remarked.

Carly's eyes widened. Jerry used to call Sam darling too. "You actually know him?"

Claudia looked at both Jason and Carly's questioning gazes and started chuckling. "You're kidding right?"

"No," they both answered.

"He works for my father," she replied, shaking her head in disappointment. "Javiar Ruiz introduced him to my father years before I was sent to Italy and Daddy liked him so much, he's been hiring him on and off ever since."

"You're acquainted with the Ruiz family?" Jason asked incredulously. He thought Anthony was just crazy but anyone who would associate with the Ruiz family, knowing what they did, wasn't just crazy, they were insane.

The brunette turned her dark brown eyes on him. "Aren't you supposed to be Sonny's enforcer?" she asked.

He nodded his reply.

"Then why don't you know that?" Claudia asked. "We're allies. We have been for years. In fact, after you killed Manny, Mateo asked us to take over their interests in Port Charles."

"Let's get back to Jerry," Carly interrupted the enforcer and reigning mob princess. "Has your father asked him to do any work recently?"

"Probably not." Claudia grinned inside. She couldn't have planned this better herself. They were spoon-feeding her the questions she needed them to ask.

"Why?" Jason asked.

"Because Daddy had him killed," Claudia replied.

"Anthony is the one that killed Jerry," Jason muttered and his eyes glittered with hatred. "Do you know why?"

"I think Jerry screwed up his last job." And she didn't miss the glances Carly and Jason kept exchanging.

"Why are you telling us all this?" Carly asked suddenly. "You're Anthony's daughter."

"My loyalties are flexible," Claudia explained, zipping up her jacket. "Besides, Daddy hasn't done a whole lot to earn my allegiance. The only people who have that are my brother and sister."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Jason opened it and young girl walked in, talking a mile a minute—too fast for anyone to understand what she was really saying.

"Maxie, take a breath," Carly instructed.

_As in Maxie Jones?_ Claudia wondered, suddenly looking at the young girl with intrigue. This was supposed to be Sam's best friend.

Maxie mockingly breathed in deeply and let out a huge breath in the form of a whistle, earning a smirk from the woman she now recognized as John Zacchara's older sister Claudia. "I was wondering what is taking you so long." She turned on Jason. "She's been missing for months and you're hanging around here chatting?"

Her eyes now had a dangerous gleam in them. "I thought you were supposed to go all out for the people you love! If I had known how much you would not be doing about it, I never would have agreed to tell you," she paused as she remembered Claudia's presence. "I would have objected to telling you anything."

Carly was now shaking her head as she felt Jason's frustration.

Jason, who had been caught off guard by Maxie's fury at first was now looking at her with angry eyes. "I'm working on it," he said through clenched teeth.

Maxie raised an eyebrow at him. She looked at the desk and rolled her eyes. "How? By going over things we already know?" She held up the autopsy file as an example of something they had found out without his help. "Boy am I glad to have you on the case."

"Maxie," Jason started but Carly cut him off.

"He's trying to figure out who killed Jerry," Carly explained with as much patience she could muster given the situation. "If we know that, we might be able to figure out who took her."

Claudia looked at them in fake confusion. "What the hell are you three talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing," Jason replied, dragging Claudia to the door by her arm. "You should go now. Look after that brother and sister of yours. With a father like yours, they're gonna need it."

While Jason and Carly began to fill her in, Maxie was staring into space.

"Maxie?" Jason called to her impatiently.

"What sister?" Maxie finally asked, pointing to the door that Claudia had just walked through. "John and Claudia don't have a sister."

Jason looked at her, a suspicion forming in his mind. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Maxie replied, telling them about the times Lulu had bragged about being with John and also ranting about how much she hated his family. "Lulu definitely would've mentioned him having two sisters."

"Unless she didn't know," Carly began slowly. "Maybe this third Zacchara sibling is new to the fold."

"I"ll get Spinelli on it first thing," Jason declared, unaware of the surprise that was awaiting him the next morning.

"In the name of all that is holy in Cyberspace, it can't be true!" Spinelli exclaimed the next afternoon as he and Jason were sitting downstairs together working on finding Sam.

"What?" Jason asked disinterestedly, glancing up at his young protégé. After seeing the alarmed expression on Spinelli's face, he realized he must have found something. "Did you find something?"

Spinelli nodded emphatically. "Something of the most dire nature."

"What is it?"

"The Goddes!" Spinelli exclaimed.

"What about Sam?" Jason asked hopefully.

"She is also a Daughter of Darkness!"

"_**WHAT?!**_"


	12. Chapter 12

_It's short but it's all I could manage for now. I have a killer test later on today that I have to get back to cramming for. I hate Anatomy and Physiology. I might update again over the weekend, emphasis on might. Enjoy the latest installment._

**Chapter 12**

"You must understand that this is merely a theory based on mostly circumstantial evidence," Spinelli told them all cautiously as his gaze bounced from Jason to Carly and finally rested on Maxie. "The Jackal has not been able to find any hard proof of his suspicions but he stands by his conclusion."

"Which is?" Maxie prodded, tapping the heel of the shoes that Sam had given her that fateful day their friendship had begun.

Jason didn't want to hear it again but knew that in order to prove it false, he would need more than Spinelli to help him. It sounded so ridiculous to him and he prayed that Spinelli was wrong because if he was proved right, the consequences would be too horrible to imagine.

"The Jackal believes he has found the third child of the Insane One," Spinelli cleared his throat uncomfortably. "The second Daughter of Darkness."

Carly frowned. That wasn't what she expected to hear. She shrugged at Spinelli. "So who is his daughter?"

"Uh, the Goddess."

Jason winced at the words. "I don't see how it's possible," he told Spinelli who rolled his eyes in response.

Maxie suddenly looked up at him with a look of disgust on her face. "Anthony Zacchara and Alexis Davis? Together?" She shrivelled her nose and cringed. "I'm sorry but that is gross!"

"And a little hard to believe," Carly added.

"Believe it or not," Spinelli muttered angrily as he found the proof. "The Jackal has found a connection between the Goddess Mother and the Lord of Darkness." He turned the laptop around so they could see for themselves.

Maxie leaned forward to get a closer look. "No way," she exclaimed in disbelief as she looked back at Spinelli questioningly. "Anthony was a high school teacher?"

But there was the proof in black and white. Or in this case, on the private school's website found on the past and present staff webpage.

"Alexis did say she got pregnant at sixteen while she was away at boarding school," Jason confirmed that there was a possibility that Spinelli was right about Alexis and Anthony.

"So Alexis Davis actually slept with her professor?" Carly asked in amusement, her eyes sparkling gleefully. She leaned forward. "Even better, her mobbed up professor!"

"I have to tell you that after all the hypocritical lectures I've had to endure from that woman about raising Michael and Morgan in a dangerous environment and now I find out that she herself has slept with not one but two mobsters and had kids with both of them," Carly leaned back in her chair again, looking very pleased with herself. "This is just too perfect!"

"This is about Sam," Jason warned her ominously, glaring at her in anger. "If Spinelli is right, then Anthony is her father."

Carly looked down guiltily. "Sorry."

"How are we going to prove this one way or the other?" Maxie suddenly asked, looking very perplexed.

"We could always ask Vixenella." Spinelli suggested and Maxie nodded in agreement with her friend. After all, it was Claudia that had given them the lead in the first place which she was beginning to suspect wasn't an accident.

"No," Carly dismissed the notion. "If Sam is her sister, Claudia would never help us find her." She explained that Claudia probably knew how Sam had been treated by Jason so she might not be inclined to lead him straight to her. "She probably hates you." Carly commented to Jason.

"I don't care what she thinks of me." And he meant it. Claudia's opinions meant nothing to him. "All that matters is Sam." And getting her back safely, he added silently.

"Then the only option is to go straight to the source," Maxie said, noticing the way Jason glared at her for even bringing it up. "You need to ask Alexis."

"Then we'd have to tell her everything." Jason reminded her.

"She is Sam's mother," Maxie shot back hotly. "Don't you think she deserves to know that Sam is alive?"

"I agree with her," Carly spoke softly. "I was there when she found out about the shooting. She was devastated. We have to tell her that Sam is alive. It would be cruel not to."

"She'll want to get the police involved." Jason was annoyed with the idea of having to argue with Alexis about anything regarding Sam again. He was still ticked off with her for the lecture she'd given him when Sam had left him.

"I don't think so." Carly shook her head. "Not with Anthony involved." It made sense for Jason to get Sam back because he understood Anthony's world far better than the PCPD ever would because it was his own. He would be able to figure out how Anthony operated quickly.

Jason groaned at the idea. "Why would he take her?" He demanded furiously. "Why would he send Jerry of all people to take her for him?" He looked up at them for answers. "Sam is supposedly his daughter and he handed her over to that sick freak on a silver platter!"

"Why Jerry?" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair as millions of questions ran through his mind. "Why would he hire a woman that hates Sam to take her place only to kill her after a few months?"

Carly looked up at him in surprise. "You think Anthony is behind Allie's murder."

"I think whoever took Sam is responsible and if Anthony took her, then yes, he probably ordered Allie's death."

"Allie was his plant. It doesn't make sense that he would have her killed." Jason was so frustrated, he was ready to punch a hole in the wall.

"Sure, it does," Carly remarked, sympathetic to her friend's frustrations. Most of the same questions were running through her mind about Jerry's involvement. "Allie royally fucked up. She ruined his daughter's life. Frankly, I'm surprised at his restraint. I was wondering why he didn't kidnap and torture Allie before he killed her."

"Claudia said that Anthony had Jerry killed," Maxie reminded them after hearing Carly's explanation about Allie's death. "I wonder what he did wrong."

Jason's eyes filled with rage. "If he hurt Sam, I'll kill him."

"He's already dead, moron," Maxie told him.

"Then I'll bring him back to life and kill him again."


	13. Chapter 13

_Here's the next installment. Enjoy._

**Chapter 13**

Alexis Davis sat down as she felt the wind being knocked out of her. She stared up at Jason Morgan and began shaking her head. She didn't like that he was once again telling her life-altering news.

"I," she struggled to get a word out but then closed her mouth again. "I don't believe you."

Jason rolled his eyes at her defiance. Now he knew where Sam got it. "I don't care. I'm telling you the truth. You are the one that has to decide what to do with it."

Carly Jacks shook her head in amazement at her best friend. Sometimes he could be incredibly moronic and oblivious. "Alexis," she said gently, reaching out awkwardly to squeeze the older woman's hand. "We have proof."

The woman's head jerked up at them, hope immediately filling her eyes as her heart jumped to her throat. "Sam is really alive?" She felt foolish for believing them. It did sound too good to be true. Her eldest daughter was found shot in her apartment. She had seen Sam's body with her own eyes and now they expected her to believe that her eyes had been playing tricks on her.

Or something more sinister was at work. The chilling thought crept up her spine and she glanced at Jason suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"Did Sam ever tell you about a woman named Allie Monroe?" Jason asked.

Alexis shrugged. "She mentioned something about meeting a girl that looked a little like her right before you lost your memory." She recalled Sam telling her all about the horrendous things that girl and her mother had put Sam and Jason through.

"Allie Monroe looks exactly like Sam." Jason said it so simply. "She was shot in Sam's loft that night. Sam's been missing for months." He figured there was no use delaying the inevitable or breaking the news to Alexis gently. He still needed to get to Anthony and he had a feeling that would be a harder topic of conversation.

Alexis digested the information slowly and Carly looked at her sympathetically. "We know this is a lot to process."

"Tell me everything." Her voice was firm and commanding. Now that was the Alexis Davis everyone was used to. "Don't leave a single detail out."

Twenty minutes later, they had finished telling her all about the discovery that Sam was alive and Allie Monroe was the one that had been found dead in her apartment.

Alexis studied them. "What is it?" She sensed the worried glances the two friends kept sharing and she knew they were holding something back.

"We need to talk to you about Sam's father."

Dark eyes narrowed at them. "What does he have to do with this?" Alexis demanded, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. She didn't like the way this conversation was going.

"Do you know who he is?" Carly inquired quietly.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Alexis snapped, wondering why they would suddenly need to know who she had gotten pregnant by after all this time.

"Because we do." Jason glared at her harshly and she shivered at the fury he was aiming at her.

"How could you possibly know?" She asked nervously. If they did know that she had slept with a married man, she didn't even want to think about what Carly would do with that information.

"Spinelli."

Alexis closed her eyes in regret. "I didn't know that he was still married at the time. I swear."

Jason looked at her incredulously. "Of all things, that's what you choose to address?" He demanded.

"What are you talking about?"

Carly, sensing her confusion and alarm, bit her lip. "Alexis you do know that your professor was Anthony Zacchara?"

Her eyebrows shot up and then she started laughing. "That's very amusing, Carly." A few minutes later, she glanced at them, frowning when she noticed the confusion in their eyes and more importantly, the seriousness. "You're not kidding?"

Carly shook her head and Alexis' alarm grew to terror.

"Of course I didn't know!" She answered hotly, shaking her head no furiously. "He told me his name was Tony Martin and that he was recently divorced from his wife of five years."

"Well, his name is Anthony Zacchara," Jason informed her, his anger spiking at the outrage now exploding like fireworks in Alexis' eyes. "And he took Sam either because you never told him you were pregnant or because you ran away."

Alexis swallowed down the argument that her father had sent her away, the decision had been out of her hands, because she hadn't told Anthony about the pregnancy either. "Why now? And why arrange such an elaborate plot if all he wanted was a chance to know his daughter?"

"We were hoping you could tell us that."

"How should I know?" Alexis shrugged helplessly.

"Well, you did sleep with him." Carly pointed out.

"And as it turns out, I didn't know him at all."

Jason's phone rang just then and he glanced up at it, wondering who could be calling him. "Spinelli," he muttered to Carly as he stepped away. "Morgan. What is it?"

"Stone Cold!" The urgency in his voice made Jason freeze in his tracks. "The Jackal has made another startling discovery." He heard him typing away at the computer furiously and then suddenly, he stopped. "Actually, make that two."

By the time, he hung up the phone, Jason was furious. He walked back into the room. "I have to go deal with something."

"Jason, what is it?" Carly asked in concern upon seeing the granite in his eyes.

"Amelia Joffe."

She turned around when someone called her name and rolled her eyes in annoyance at the sight of Jason Morgan walking towards her. "Jason," she gave him a phony smile. "What can I do for you?"

Amelia was nervous. There was a grim look on his face that had never been there before, even when his son was missing. His eyes were lit with suspicion; it was as if he knew things he couldn't possibly know.

"You work for Anthony Zacchara." He said bluntly folding his arms across his chest as he leaned in toward her, glaring at her harshly. His intimidation tactics were very effective and then his eyes blazed. "You set me up."

"My involvement had nothing to do with you," she replied simply.

Jason looked at her incredulously. "You hired Maureen to kidnap my son and then told me that Sam watched it happen when you knew it wasn't true all along."

"Exactly," she chirped, smiling at him. "I set Sam up. Not you. I don't give a damn about you."

"You kidnapped my son and ruined Sam's life for revenge?"

Amelia stared back at him unapologetically as she nodded her answer, grinning devilishly. She explained how using Allie to ruin Sam's life was the perfect plan. "I took away everything Sam held dear." She glanced at him pointedly. "And it was so damn easy." Her voice was so smug. "Nobody in this town will ever be fooled by that trash again."

Jason ignored the rage that filled his veins at her callous attitude. "You killed Allie."

Amelia looked saddened for a minute but it quickly vanished. "That was a shame. Allie was doing all the work to avoid going back to prison. But then Anthony found out about what had become of his daughter's life." She smirked in amusement at the way Jason visibly stiffened. "Oh he was furious to say the least. And Allie made the perfect scapegoat."

"By the way," Jason said as he glanced at her over his shoulder on the way out. "You're blaming the wrong person."

"What do you mean?"

"Allie was born Alicia Campbell." He saw the confusion in her eyes and had to smile in delight. "Monroe is her married name."

"What?" Amelia asked with trepidation.

"Yeah, she and her mother were hustlers who would marry rich guys, steal all their money and then kill them to cover their tracks." He showed her no mercy as he took in her heartbroken face the moment the truth began to daw on her. "You knew her last husband Bill. I believe you called him Daddy."

And with that, he left, a self-satisfied smirk slowly turning into a grin on his face as he walked away, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her shattered world.

"Hey." Claudia smiled at her sister as she walked into Sam's room and sat down in a lounge chair near the window.

Sam glanced up from her spot at the desk. "Hey," she responded and tucked the letter she was writing away. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you." Claudia's tone grew serious and her dark eyes were filled with concerned worry. "About Daddy."

Frowning, she swung the roller chair around to face Claudia. "What about Anthony?" Sam asked, noticing the relief that flashed through her sister's eyes.

"I know he's your father and I understand the urge to want to get to know him," Claudia began brokenly and sighed in frustration. "If I were you, I'd want to know about where I came from too. I know your adoptive parents sucked."

Sam laughed heartily. "That's a bit of an understatement but go on."

"My point is that our father happens to be Anthony Zacchara." She hoped Sam would understand what she was trying to tell her. "You need to be very careful around him. He preys on vulnerability and whether you want to be or not, you're vulnerable when it comes to him because he's your father."

"Are you?" Sam asked curiously, wondering if Claudia ever had the same problem.

"Every daughter wants her father's approval." Claudia looked down in shame. "I did some things to get Daddy's attention that I would take back in a heartbeat if I had the chance."

"I don't care about his approval." Sam would not put herself through that hell again, no matter how much she felt the need to. "Been there, done that. It was more trouble than it was worth."

"Daddy does care about you, Sam." Claudia told her honestly. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't get to know him. You just need to be aware that you can't ever really trust him."

"Claudia." When her sister's gaze locked with hers, she smiled at her reassuringly. "I know how insane our father is. I admit that I'm curious but I know not to trust him. I've learned that lesson the hard way."

"What lesson?" Claudia asked.

"I've learned what can happen when you trust someone too much," Sam said softly. "You become blind to everything, including the truth."


	14. Chapter 14

_Well, here's the next installment after a long hiatus. Inspiration finally hit me and when the muse decides to strike, I don't resist. Hope you enjoy._

**Chapter 14**

Sonny Corinthos pushed the door to his limo open and his loyal enforcer Jason Morgan ducked in and sat down in the seat across from him.

Once he was settled, Jason looked up at him warily. "What's going on?" he asked curiously.

Sonny cleared his throat, ignoring the troubled look in his enforcer's eyes. Frankly, he was tired of seeing that look day after day. "We have a meeting." Jason opened his mouth to respond probably to ask if he could skip it but Sonny held a hand up to him. "Your presence is necessary. I need you."

Jason looked down in disappointment but nodded in understanding and agreement which is one thing Sonny was grateful for. Jason was quiet. He rarely argued even if he happened to vehemently disagree like he probably would if he knew where the meeting was.

Sonny Corinthos was tired. He didn't want to sit back and do nothing anymore. His warehouses were being bombed, his men were being killed, and his family threatened; he had had enough. It was time to settle things with his rival once and for all. If they couldn't reach some sort of peace agreement, then Sonny would burn them to the ground.

"How's Kristina?" Jason broke the silence in the limo.

"Her older sister was murdered." Sonny's eyes glittered with fury and Jason tamped down his own frustration. He knew Sonny was angry. "My daughter saw the body being rolled away on a stretcher."

"Sam and Kristina were close."

Sonny snorted. "Kristina shouldn't have been within five feet of Sam after what she did."

Jason had to bite his tongue to keep himself from grabbing Sonny by the throat, opening the door and tossing him onto the road. He wanted to defend Sam, scream that the person Sonny was angry at wasn't who he thought she was. But Sonny couldn't be let in on the secret.

He could think of one petite blonde who would have a conniption fit if he told the man sitting across from him the truth right then. Maxie Jones despised Sonny Corinthos. When Jason wanted to clue Sonny in, Maxie threatened to march down to the police department and tell her dad everything they had found out; a scheme she knew would do more harm than good.

Spinelli had argued that Sonny would react without thinking. He would be so blinded by rage over being lied to and manipulated that he would probably go out and kill Amelia, storm the Zacchara mansion, get killed and start a mob war. Carly had also reminded him that Sonny's reaction was a headache they didn't need. Jason hadn't failed to see the irony of Carly pointing out such a fact.

They were right. He knew it but seeing the hatred burning in his friend's eyes angered him. He wanted to prove Sonny wrong for once. He wanted to watch Sonny realize that he made mistakes, especially when it came to Sam.

Suddenly the limo came to a dead stop. Sonny glanced out the window and his eyes brightened with recognition. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Jason. "We're here."

Jason turned and looked out the window and a chill ran up his spine at the mansion that he saw. "Where exactly is here?" he inquired as they both stepped out of the limo, only to be greeted by three men. Three men with guns, Jason noted once he spied the weapons tucked into the men's pants.

"Corinthos?" A tall, muscled man asked them with a deep voice. He was the largest and most intimidating of the three and as Jason studied him, he guessed he was the ranking bodyguard. The question was: who was he supposed to be guarding?

"And Jason Morgan," Sonny replied curtly, barely giving the men a glance as he spoke.

The second man approached Jason and stared at him suspiciously. "Are you packing?" he asked as he gave Jason a once over, probably checking for visible signs of a weapon.

Jason snorted. "What do you think?" he sneered. He'd never be stupid enough to show up to a meeting unarmed, especially when he had no idea what he was walking into.

The two men shared a look and then turned to Sonny. "Our employer's instructions were clear. No weapons."

Sonny rolled his eyes. "My partner never agreed to that. Only I did."

"Your employer violated the agreement." Jason pointed out, looking at their weapons pointedly. "If necessary, I will hand over my weapon but only if the three of you do the honours first."

And that was the end of that as they silently turned away from them and led the way inside.

They were led to an office in the back of the house that was lavishly decorated and upon seeing all the red roses, Jason felt a warning go off in his head. "Sonny, where are we?" he demanded.

"You're in my house," An amused voice answered from behind the desk. The man—who Jason now realized was in a wheelchair—wheeled around to face them. "Welcome."

"Zacchara." Sonny greeted his enemy with a nod of his head and sat down in a chair. He looked to Jason expectantly but paused once he saw the enraged expression on his face.

"We're meeting with him?" Jason turned to Sonny, glaring at him in fury. Then realization seemed to dawn on him and he looked even angrier. "You expect me to agree to a truce with this maniac?!"

"Jason," his boss said through clenched teeth while he shot an annoyed look at him. "I apologize for springing this on you but you must remember your place."

"It's quite all right." Anthony smirked in amusement as he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I think I understand why Morgan here is reluctant to making a deal with me."

Sonny looked at him. There was an heir of smugness around Anthony that he didn't understand. And the tension between Zacchara and Jason was almost tangible. "Maybe you could fill me in because there's obviously something I'm missing here."

"His hostile attitude must have something to do with my daughter." Anthony answered his voice full of amusement as he taunted Jason.

Jason's eyes narrowed into slits. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"Safe." Anthony snapped, his eyes darkening with anger as he looked at the enraged enforcer. "Now that she's away from you."

Sonny glanced between the two of them. "Why do you care so much about Claudia?"

"I don't," Jason answered.

"Then who are you talking about?"

"My younger daughter." Zacchara answered simply. "Sam."

Sonny's head snapped up at the name. "Sam?" he repeated questioningly as he looked at Jason curiously.

The door to the office opened. "Tony?" Sam called for her father as she walked into the office, hoping she wasn't interrupting a business meeting. After she told him that she would never feel comfortable calling him Daddy or Father the way John and Claudia did, he asked her to call him Tony instead. She felt it was a reasonable compromise so she complied.

Her father glanced up at her and smiled. "Yes?" he asked.

"I," Sam opened her mouth to speak but when the two men turned around to face her, she froze in shock, her mouth snapping shut. She was speechless as she stared at Jason and Sonny for the first time in almost eight months.

"Sam." Jason felt his heart jolt back to life at the vision in front of him. His beautiful Sam was alive. His arms ached to hold her after so long and as he rose from his seat, he took a step toward her while she took a step back.

"Stay the hell away from me." Glaring at him with dark eyes full of rage, betrayal stinging her heart she put as much distance as she could between them and walked over to stand behind her father, her only true ally in the room.

"You're alive?" Sonny asked, mystified.


	15. Chapter 15

_Here's the latest installment. Hope you enjoy cause it took me a long time to write it._

**Chapter 15**

"Morgan," Anthony addressed him giddily as his eyes sparkled with mischief. "You remember my daughter, don't you?" He reached for Sam's hand as she stood by him and gave it a light squeeze.

His daughter looked down at him in annoyance. Sam immediately pulled her hand out of his grasp and clutched it with her other one.

She studied Anthony's face, not missing his obvious enjoyment of the circumstances. "Why are they here?" she demanded of him, narrowing her eyes in warning. "And I want an answer, Tony, not one of your riddles."

"A business meeting."

Sam nodded. She noticed Sonny opening his eyes after closing for them for the third time in a row and smirked in amusement at his obvious confusion.

"How are you still alive?" Sonny asked anxiously, blinking once again and astounded that she was still standing there. "Where have you been?"

He looked really angry and Sam found it annoying. She knew of his argument with Allie over the situation with Jason's son, and how he could even have the nerve to be angry at her after the betrayal he'd committed himself was astounding.

It didn't matter that it wasn't actually her he had argued with, and it didn't matter that she hadn't been the one to watch that kidnapping; all that mattered to Sam was that he had believed it was her and he still thought she was capable of something like that. And then went on to accuse her of playing everyone from the start.

It was ridiculous. If all she wanted from Sonny and Jason was their money, she wouldn't have stayed as long as she did and she wouldn't have stuck by Jason through Michael's kidnapping, supposed death and his recovery when he was finally returned.

She wouldn't have fought so hard to save Jason's life when he lost his memory if she had not truly loved him and the fact that Sonny didn't understand that made her realize that he never really knew her and didn't care enough to get to know her like he claimed he did.

"Do you have any idea what you've put your little sister through?" He raged at her, and Sam turned to Anthony questioningly.

"What did you do to Kristina?"

Jason felt a rise of hope at the anger that had sparked in her eyes as she glared dangerously at Zacchara.

"Nothing." Anthony promised her and he was pretty convincing but Sam eyed him harder.

She leaned down to him and raised her brow. "If you're lying to me, I will not hesitate to kill you," she warned him, glancing at the gun on the table. "If you have harmed my sisters or my mother in any way, I will shoot you between the eyes like I did the other one."

"He had it coming," Anthony agreed and cautiously placed his right hand over her hand that gripped his left one like a vice. "I thought I had proven that I wouldn't hurt you like that."

"Give me a break." Jason couldn't stop the scoff that escaped his lips or the contemptuous tone he used. "You kidnapped her for god's sakes."

"Kidnapped?" Sonny's eyes widened to the size of saucers, shaking his head. "First, she's your daughter and now you've kidnapped her? What the hell is going on?"

"I'll explain later," Jason answered quietly, watching Sam intently who was still looking at Anthony.

Her gaze shifted to him. "No, I will explain." She turned to them and her eyes narrowed into slits as she kept her gaze trained on him. "You tend to leave important details out."

"Sam," Jason began to apologize but she raised a hand to him, and he realized she wasn't finished.

"I hear you have a son." Her gaze shot to Anthony momentarily, sending a silent thank-you to him for pulling the wool off her eyes.

"How do you know about Jake?" Sonny asked suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter." Sam shrugged and glared at Jason. "I didn't hear it from the person who should have told me."

"Corinthos." Anthony motioned for Sonny to follow him. "Let's talk."

Sonny looked reluctant to leave without answers but when Jason shot him a pleading look he started to walk away.

"And I will tell you all about how my Sam was returned to me."

"I'm sorry." Jason couldn't think of anything else to say that wouldn't sound like an excuse or a rationalization.

"I don't give a damn," Sam spat at him, and then paused as she looked around the room pensively. "So his name is Jake?"

Jason closed his eyes as he nodded, regretting his stupid decision to lie now more than ever as a burst of pain flashed through her eyes.

"Shame it wasn't a girl." Sam spoke softly and kept her head down for a moment as she collected herself. "Maybe then there would've been another Lila Morgan." Her lips trembled as she spoke but she managed to keep her voice steady.

"You can't think that I would've done that to you." Jason shook his head in denial.

"You've already done worse." She laughed bitterly. "You lied to me about your child." She crossed her arms around herself protectively. "Once you tell one lie, it's easy to tell others."

"Sam," he spoke softly as he walked up to her. "I didn't want to lie to you and I wish I could go back and tell you the truth but I did it to protect you." She scoffed. "And it kills me to know that you'll never believe that."

She raised her hand and slapped him across the face. "I don't care about you and your noble intentions." And then she hit him again. "I was willing to let you raise my child with me but you didn't even trust me enough to tell me you had one yourself. I had to find out from a stranger."

"It wasn't about trust." Jason argued, grabbing her hand before her next slap landed. "Elizabeth wanted to keep Jake safe from the dangers of my life."

Since he held her hands still, she couldn't raise them to hit him so she did the next best thing: she balled her fists and shoved him with all the strength she had, sending him staggering away from her.

"That's your excuse?" She shouted angrily. "You threw me away because she asked you to!" She punched him across the face.

"I made the decision to lie to you," he admitted in shame. "It was her idea but I agreed to it. And I have never regretted any decision more."

"You're right," Sam realized sadly. "It's actually not Elizabeth's fault. I can't blame her for this."

Jason winced at the agony in her voice.

"She didn't lie to me." She shook her head at the painful conclusion her head had reached and felt her world shatter to pieces again. "She didn't rip my heart out and stab me in the back at the same time."

"That is all on you." And then she walked away from him.


	16. Chapter 16

_I finished my field placement this week so I finally had time to write. And here is the next installment. Enjoy. I'll try to get more updates for the other stories going but I will be busy studying for my certification exam that's coming up._

**Chapter 16**

"Are you out of your mind?" Sam exclaimed loudly as she and Claudia walked across the pier on their way to Kelly's two days later.

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Look, Sam, I know you have a history with the man," she started to say before she was cut off again.

"Yeah I do so learn from my mistakes." Sam immediately turned to her younger brother, John for help. "Please, she actually listens to you."

John Zacchara chuckled in bemusement. "Oh yeah?" he quipped. "Since when?"

Claudia stopped walking and looked at the two of them with a serious expression on her face. "I happen to agree with them." She crossed her arms around her body protectively as she stood her ground to her brother and sister. "This alliance could bring peace and a lot of riches to the new organization."

"Screw the new organization," Sam spat venomously. "Actually, screw both organizations. The idea sounds completely ridiculous to me."

"The idea is good," John disagreed and stood by Claudia who smiled up at him in thanks. Then he took a step away. "I don't agree with the price you will have to pay."

"We already agreed to it." Claudia told them firmly. "Daddy thinks this is the best way."

"And what Father wants…" John began.

"He doesn't always have to get." Sam finished boldly.

"You don't get it," Claudia shook her head at Sam. "This arrangement is going to give me everything I've ever wanted." She smiled at the thought of being involved. "A place in the family business."

"No dream is worth tying yourself to Sonny Corinthos in holy matrimony."

But Claudia went on as if she hadn't heard a thing Sam had said. "And not just a role," she said as her smile widened into a grin. "I'll be in charge."

"With Sonny." Sam reminded her, shaking her head incredulously.

"That's fine with me."

Sam grabbed her head in frustration and started laughing. "Then you really are crazy." She said as they approached Kelly's. "Fine," she finally relented once she spied the determination in her sister's eyes. "You made your choice and I know I can't stop you but you have to promise me one thing."

"What?" Claudia asked indulgently.

"Do not fall in love." Sam said seriously, and Claudia laughed in response. "I'm serious. Being in love with that guy is no way to live. It'll be the worst thing that's ever happened to you if you let it." Then they all laughed, oblivious to the entire establishment staring at the siblings in wide-eyed shock.

A loud crash sounded from behind the counter and all three looked up to see what the commotion was. Mike Corbin was gaping at them with shards of broken plates and a broken coffee mug that had shattered.

"Sam?" He seemed to finally find his voice, which was hoarse as he spoke and it came out as a squeak.

Sam realized they were inside the restaurant and looked back at everyone, flashing a smile.

This wasn't the way she intended to let everyone know she was still alive but it was too late now. "No you're not crazy." She told them all seriously. "Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

The three siblings had made a stand earlier that morning to their father. Sam was finally going to reveal herself and let the people of Port Charles know that she was still alive. Tony had tried to dissuade her but she had told him that she was tired of hiding and that since both Jason and Sonny now knew that she was alive, it was only a matter of time before the rest of Port Charles knew it too.

After almost fifteen minutes of answering Mike's questions, Sam, Claudia and John all left Kelly's with their food in a bag. Sam had mentioned that she had to stop by her mother's to see her and her sisters right away.

She suddenly stopped walking.

Claudia slowed down as her sister stood rooted to her spot. "Hon?" She came up to her and tapped Sam on the shoulder. "We really should get to your mom's if you want to see your sisters and if we're going to get there, you need to actually walk back to the car because you know where the house is."

"There's some place else I have to go." Sam's voice was full of emotion. She turned to Claudia and John. "And I'd like both of you to come."

"Okay." John took her hand and squeezed it gently. "We'll go wherever."

Fifteen minutes later they had reached their destination. Sam led them to an area a cemetery that held two headstones.

Claudia bent down and brushed some debris away from one of them so she could read the name. "Lila McCall Morgan," she spoke aloud and then glanced at her sister whose eyes were filled with tears. "Beloved daughter." She looked at John in worry.

John was kneeling down at the other headstone. The name on the headstone was Daniel McCall. "Beloved brother." He locked eyes with Claudia and could see the same worry and sadness that he was feeling. Their sister had been through so much. It was a wonder she was still in one piece.

"I just wanted you all to meet." Sam said softly as she kneeled in between the two graves. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in a while, Danny and Lila. I was away for a while," and her voice broke. "But I'm back now and I wanted you to know that I hadn't forgotten either of you."

"Jase, I need to talk to you about this merger," Carly said as she walked into the penthouse without knocking. She looked at her friend and nearly fainted at the sight in front of her. In fact, she would have, if not for the rage.

Jason sat on his couch with a full bottle of tequila in his hand.

"Put that thing down," she ordered immediately, marching over and forcefully grabbing the bottle out of his hand. "Do you remember what happened the last time you tried to drown your sorrows with this stuff? You were so out of it that you mistook that whore for Sam and wound up bedding the slut on this very floor. And you certainly don't need to deal anymore of those kinds of nasty consequences."

Jason reached forward for the beer that he had taken out of the fridge thirty minutes before and started drinking it. Carly retrieved it when she came back from dumping the tequila down the drain.

"Stop trying to drink yourself into oblivion and tell me what the hell is going on." Carly sat down beside him and offered him a bottle of water.

"I saw her." Jason whispered and he sounded haunted. "She hates me."

Carly frowned. "Who did you see?"

"Sam."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You saw Sam! So she is alive?" Carly found herself relieved at the news. "That is great." Then she took a double take. Her friend was drowning his sorrows with alcohol and he looked more miserable than she had ever seen him before. Even after Sam had supposedly died. "I gather the reunion didn't go well."

"She knows about Jake," he confirmed and groaned miserably. "Anthony told her about him and about how I lied to her about him."

"Well, you did, Jason."

"Yes, but it wasn't at all like Sam thinks it was." Jason shook with anger. "That bastard took advantage of Sam's insecurities and made it seem like I hid Jake to hurt her. But that wasn't it at all."

"So tell Sam the truth," Carly suggested, knowing it wasn't a very helpful thing to say.

"She won't listen to me." Jason ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I betrayed her in one of the worst ways imaginable. She will never trust me again. But she trusts Tony."

"Tony?" Carly repeated questioningly.

Jason scoffed. "Yeah. That's what she calls him." He rolled his eyes. "Can you believe that?" He chuckled bitterly. "The bastard kidnaps her, hires someone that ruins her life, has me framed for her murder, and left her alone with Jerry Jacks. I love her with every fibre of my being and tear Port Charles upside down trying to find her and yet he's Tony and I'm a bastard."

"Jase, you did lie to her." Carly tried to break it to him gently. "You knew that when you finally found her, it wasn't going to be easy to get through to her."

"I know." Jason sighed. "I just didn't expect this." He put the bottle down as he stood up and walked around. "I love her so much Carly. She's been gone for so long and when I saw her, all I wanted to do was kiss her or touch her and it hurt so much to watch her step away from me and walk behind Anthony."

"Maybe he brainwashed her." Carly shrugged and smirked at the annoyance that flashed in his eyes.

"No he didn't." Jason looked at her and finally admitted everything. "I broke her and she was left to pick up the pieces all alone."

"She has new siblings," Carly pointed out. "From what I've seen, they're not at all like Anthony. I'm sure they were there for her."

"Stone Cold!" Spinelli came rushing down the stairs seconds after he yelled for Jason. "There's been a Goddess spotting." He opened his computer and pointed to a picture of Sam at Kelly's with Claudia and John.

"There you go," Carly gestured to the laptop. "She out and about now so you need to track her down and tell her what really happened."

Jason nodded in agreement.

"After," Carly said and looked at him sternly. "You explain to me what the hell Sonny meant when he told me he was joining the Zacharra empire this morning."

"Oh, yeah." Jason pinched the bridge of his nose in regret. He had forgotten about that one.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17**_

"Married?" Carly repeated in disbelief and allowed that to hang in the air for a few seconds as she gathered her thoughts. "Sonny's thirst for power has finally done him in if he thinks that marrying Claudia Zacchara will bring him anything except a headache and an infection."

"And what about that fashionista bitch of his?" Carly remembered the insufferable Kate Howard and almost dropped her argument entirely at the thought of finally getting that witch out of her children's lives. "What is he thinking?"

"It's going to be a marriage in name only," Jason told her quietly, not wanting to deal with all of Sonny's drama or the merger. "Claudia and Sonny are only getting married to merge the two organizations. It's a dumb idea but apparently Anthony made having a Zacchara at the helm a condition before he'd agree."

"Nice guy," Carly commented, referring to Anthony Zacchara. "His daughter is nothing but a piece of ass that he can marry off so that she can become nothing more than a figurehead." She cast a sideways look at Jason. "We both know that's all she's going to be because there's no way Sonny is going to share the power with her or allow her to have any say in what goes on."

She blew out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "At least he didn't decide to force Sam to marry Sonny."

Jason's expression darkened at that and he almost crushed the bottle of water in his hand as he sat down on the couch again. "She'd kill Anthony first."

Carly shrugged in response. "Still, this union will bring nothing but trouble. It doesn't make sense. Why would Anthony work so hard to become such a thorn in Sonny's side only to hand all the power he's acquired right over to Sonny?"

"The timing of things is suspicious," Jason agreed and leaned back against the couch to stretch out his muscles. He was exhausted.

"Yeah," Carly muttered under her breath, knowing that Jason was thinking about Sam. "I wonder how Claudia, Sam and Johnny are reacting."

"Hopefully, Sam's talking her out of it." He was once again reminded of the fact that Sam had more siblings. It seemed almost surreal to him. The woman who for so long had had nobody but himself and Danny to love and protect her now had family members crawling out of the woodwork every year or so. He was happy that she now had a bigger support system but still wished sometimes that it was still the two of them against the world.

All of a sudden there was a loud crash from the hallway as someone slammed the door across the hall closed. Jason blew out a breath. He couldn't deal with Spinelli's babbling right now. He had been moving into Sonny's old penthouse for the last two hours. Jason still didn't understand why Sonny had offered the penthouse to Spinelli but decided not to argue since it meant he would finally have more privacy.

The door to his own penthouse flew open and Maxie Jones strode in purposefully towards him, a stormy expression on her face. A few seconds after she stopped in front of him, glowering down at him with icy blue eyes, Spinelli came rushing in.

Maxie threw a glare over her shoulder at him and then returned her attention to Jason. "Some white knight you turned out to be." She unfolded her arms and started to raise her arm in a move that made Jason think she was about to slap him. Instead, she only flung her purse off her arm and it landed on the couch between him and Carly. "You finally lay eyes on Sam after months of being apart, after weeks of not knowing where she is, and then you leave her to rot with the maniac that took her away!"

Jason opened his mouth to argue with her but she gave him a frosty look that threatened violence if he said a word.

"Let me guess," She snarled nastily and flipped her hair back with an angry toss of her head, her eyes narrowing. "Instead of grovelling at her feet, begging for forgiveness, you decided to defend your lies and betrayal."

Angered by the unnecessary assault on her best friend, Carly rose to his defence. "Jason was only trying to explain why he did what he did."

Maxie laughed harshly in response. "There is no explanation that would suddenly make what you did okay or make all of Sam's anger go away!" She shook her head as she glared at Carly. "The only thing you should have done is apologize but you're so full of your own bullshit that you couldn't even do that the right way."

Jason held is temper in check as he looked up at Maxie. "Are you done?" She nodded and he rolled his eyes in response. "You're right. There is no way to explain anything that I've done to Sam. She told me as much when I saw her."

"Anthony has managed to twist everything that happened to make it look like I deliberately set out to hurt Sam so that I could be with Elizabeth," he said as he glared at Maxie. "Which I never did."

"He also told Sam about my son." Jason admitted and saw her eyes widen in response.

"Your what?" Maxie whispered in disbelief, her mouth hanging open in shock. Then she seemed to have figured it out on her own as her eyes narrowed. "Jake Spencer."

He nodded.

"Why am I surprised?" She threw her hands up in the air. He looked at her blankly. "I'm actually asking you!" Maxie shook her head as she realized the hell that Sam had been through. "I've known all along how sick and twisted Elizabeth Spencer is. She would use anything she could to get close to you and when given a golden opportunity to reel you in forever, she chooses to lie and tell the world the baby is Lucky's son." She looked baffled as her brain wracked to figure things out.

"She decided to tell Jason while they were trapped in that elevator," Carly explained and then her own face grew dark. "But asked him to lie to everyone so she could raise Jake as a family with Lucky in a safe environment and away from the dangers of Jason's life."

"And to have a secret bond with you behind Sam's back!" Maxie snapped angrily. "She made it so she was the only one that you could come to for answers to your questions and of course twisted all your concerns." Then her eyes lit with fire. "She's the reason you thought Sam was a danger isn't she?"

"She cried to Jason every time that Allie would look at her the wrong way," Carly supplied easily, feeling renewed annoyance and anger.

Jason glanced at the two women and marvelled at how much they thought alike. It was eerie.

"Well, I hope you're happy." Maxie sat down in the chair and put her feet up on her table, scoffing when he glared at her in warning. "You let your whore shove Sam right out of your life and now that she's back, Sam may never talk to you again."

"She will eventually."

"Ha!" Maxie exclaimed, leaning forward with a challenging look in her eye. "You'd have to drag her away and lock her in a room for her to even give you the time of day."

"Then that's what I'll do." Jason told her assuredly.

"Better protect your face," Maxie advised him with an amused wink. "She'll claw you to death on the way there."

Sam hesitantly grabbed the doorknob to her mother's house. She turned back to John and Claudia. "Maybe I should've done this by myself."

Claudia shook her head. "You're not alone anymore." She too grabbed the doorknob and started to turn it. "You need to get used to that."

Sam's eyes flickered with annoyance. She had been hearing that way too often for her taste. Realizing that Alexis might not appreciate her just barging in she raised her arm and knocked on the door.

Two minutes passed by before Sam saw Alexis' form materialize from the hall and towards the front door and her heart lurched when she saw her younger sister Kristina right behind her, holding Alexis' hand. Neither had seen it was her yet. Then her mother looked up and visibly paled.

Sam waved her hand at her mother and mouthed the word "hi" through the door. Alexis opened the door and stood there, staring at her blankly.

"Hi Mom," Sam repeated, searching her face for signs of happiness. "I wasn't sure the best way to approach you but I knew that it had to be face-to-face. I didn't want to do this over the phone."

Alexis lurched forward and wrapped her arms around Sam, ignoring Kristina's shriek of disbelief. She hugged her tighter against her and let out a breath that Sam realized she must have been holding. "Is it really you?" Sam nodded in response.

She pulled back and Alexis looked at her curiously. "Allie?"

Sam made a gesture of gliding her right index finger across her neck to tell Alexis that Allie was dead. "She was the one that was found that night, not me."

John cleared his throat awkwardly. Sam rolled her eyes as she glanced back at them. She turned back to Alexis and gestured to Claudia and John standing behind her. "That's John and Claudia; my brother and sister."

Alexis nodded in understanding. "We've met before," she looked at the two Zacchara children nervously before glancing at Sam again. "What are they doing here?"

"Support," Claudia replied as she came up beside Sam and held her hand out. "Nice to meet you again, DA Davis. Wish the first time had been under these circumstances."

John offered his hand out as well and smirked when Alexis narrowed her eyes in response. He took his hand back and shrugged. "Sorry for barging in on your time with Sam but she asked us to come along."

"Hi Krissy," Sam looked down at her younger sister and frowned when Kristina shied away from her. She glanced up at Alexis for answers. "Sweetie, it's me. Sam." Again, nothing.

"Kristina," Alexis reached for her younger daughter and brought the frightened girl forward. She knelt down to her level as Sam had done and hugged her tight. "Your big sister is back, sweets. Aren't you going to give her a hug?"

Kristina trembled slightly as she hesitantly walked over to Sam. She reached out and gently touched Sam's arms and pinched at it. Sam winced but kept the pain out of her expression. Kristina's eyes widened as she leaned closer. "You're real?"

Through her tears, Sam managed to nod. "Yes, sweetie. I'm real. I'm sorry I went away. I got lost but I managed to find my way back home." She pulled Kristina into a hug slowly and her sister responded almost immediately.

"It's okay." Kristina whispered as she buried her head in Sam's neck. "Just don't go away again."


	18. Chapter 18

_Hey all! It's been a long time. Hope you still remember this story. Inspiration finally hit and I was able finish a chapter and a good chunk of the next one. It was really hard to write and took a very weird turn, one I didn't plan on making until much later but *shrugs* oh, well. Here you go. Read & enjoy. Ciao._

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

She exited the elevator and walked over to his front door. It was silent but that wasn't really surprising to her. He was a quiet man. So she raised her arm and knocked on the door to his apartment.

Jason turned from the paperwork on his desk at the sound of the light knocking. His heart fluttered in the hopes that it might be Sam but it quickly died when he realized how unlikely that was.

He blew out a long breath and rose from his seat, crossing the short distance to the door. He pulled it open and felt an instant headache when he saw Elizabeth Spencer in the hall. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him and he couldn't help but feel angry at the sight.

She had no business having that reaction to his presence. Her obvious happiness made him furious because seeing her only reminded him of what he'd done to Sam and his son. He had thrown them both away and all for Elizabeth.

The woman who would never fit in his life.

She bit her lip nervously and finally rose her gaze to meet his. Elizabeth nearly cried at the cold look of fury on his face but she pushed the urge down and remembered why she had come to see him.

Her mind quickly flashing to the morning's paper and the front headline. A wave of righteous anger swept over her, overriding the sadness she had felt when he looked at her. "Is it true?" she demanded angrily, pushing past him and -walking into his house, ignoring his frustrated sigh.

"What are you talking about?"

She gaped at him. "What am I talking about?" She muttered disbelievingly as she rummaged through her bag and pulled out the newspaper. She unfolded it, pointed to the object of her frustration angrily and handed it over to him.

Jason glanced at the front page, showing no reaction whatsoever to the contents and then put the paper down on his desk wordlessly.

"It is, isn't it?" She raged, throwing her purse down on the desk in frustration. "How could you not warn me that she was alive and back in town, Jason?"

"I didn't think it was any of your business." He told her calmly as he shrugged, wondering what the big deal was.

"Not my business?" She sputtered in outrage. "After everything she did to me and my kids, don't you think I deserved to know?"

Jason furrowed his brow as he glanced at the newspaper pointedly. "Did you even read the article?" Obviously she had because her eyes sparked with fire at his question. "Then you already know that the woman who actually committed those crimes is dead."

"Do you really expect me to believe that nonsense?" Elizabeth answered back, scoffing at the notion that Sam McCall was innocent. "Allie Monroe had no reason to do those things. She wasn't the one that was angry over Jake's existence. She's not the one who hates me simply because I'm the mother of your _only_ child and she doesn't hold me responsible for all the mistakes she's made."

"Sam owns her own mistakes." Jason replied, barely able to contain his fury at the poison dripping from Elizabeth's mouth.

"She was upfront about them from the beginning, unlike some people who—to this day—are still lying."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed in anger at his words. She took a step back, her mouth trembling with anger. "I am not the only person that lied so don't you dare blame it all on me." She raised an accusing finger to him. "You went along with it because it was the right thing to do for Jake."

Jason bristled at this and turned a black glare on her. "I went along with it because I believed that you were acting out of genuine concern for Jake but you were only trying to cover your own ass." She gasped in horror. "You didn't want the world to find out that the you cheated on your husband with a hit man, got pregnant and didn't know who the father of your baby was-_again_. And then lied about it over and over."

He shook his head in disgust. "I can't believe I ever fell for your martyr act." He thought about all that he had done for the woman before him and couldn't believe what an idiot he was. "I let you manipulate me into throwing away the only good thing I had in my life."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Sam McCall is nothing more than a slutty con artist piece of trash that watched _our_ _son_ get taken from his stroller and did nothing to stop it!" She looked him up and down as she took a deep breath. "How can you even think there is anything redeemable about her?"

Jason wanted to throttle her for the things she said about Sam but he kept his cool. However much he was angry at her, he had to force himself to remember that she was still the mother of his son. And that meant that he couldn't hurt her. No matter how much he wanted to.

Instead, he chuckled at her words. "I know exactly who Sam is, Elizabeth. You're the one that doesn't have a clue." And then he leaned in further. "And before you go slandering her good name any longer, you should remember that, that 'piece of trash', as you call her, is the one that helped save your life and Jake's while you were pregnant and going into early labour during the hostage crisis at the MetroCourt."

Elizabeth looked at him as if he'd gone crazy. "That was months ago; before she ever knew that Jake was yours, and if you think that one good act makes up for all the things she did this summer, you are out of your mind."

Jason felt as if he were dealing with a stubborn child. Her unwillingness to believe anything good in Sam existed infuriated him, especially when she knew from personal experience that Sam was a good person before Allie trampled over her life.

"Elizabeth, the time Sam asked you to leave our home was probably the last time she ever saw you." Jason was pretty sure that their fight which had resulted in Sam moving out was definitely one of the last times he'd seen her, if not the last time. He knew that the woman that had screamed at him in prison was Allie now. "Sam didn't even know that Jake had been born, let alone that he was mine until months after it happened when Anthony Zacchara told her about him." Emotions swirled in her eyes. Confusion, then doubt. Finally, Elizabeth shook her head.

"I don't have a weak spot for her like you do." Elizabeth eventually spat. "And even if all that is true, which is a big _**IF **_in my opinion, I don't believe for a second that Sam is so innocent. For all any of us know, she could've been in on everything from the beginning."

"What?" Jason asked in bafflement. The idea that Sam was a party to Allie and Amelia trashing her life was ridiculous.

She nodded self-assuredly. "She was partners with Allie and whoever else was involved in this latest scheme. And it wouldn't be hard for her to pose as Allie posing as her so you don't know for a fact that it wasn't Sam that did those things to Jake and Cameron."

Jason finally lost control as he slammed his fist down on the desk hard with fury, causing Elizabeth to jump in surprise. "Stop talking like you know anything about Sam." He glared at her angrily as he shook his head with finality. "You don't! You don't know her at all. You have no idea what she's been through."

"I do." He insisted. "I probably know her better than anyone else. I was with her for a long time and I know you like to paint her as some lying, manipulative con artist slut who is only out for herself but I know the truth."

"And the truth is, is that Sam McCall is a better person than you will ever be." He walked towards the living room and sat down on the couch, glancing back at her. "Leave. I don't want you coming here anymore."

Her lips trembled and her eyes were watering up with tears as she retrieved her purse off his desk and turned to leave. She reached the door, pulling it open.

"Elizabeth?" His voice was softer now so she turned around with a hopeful expression on her face. "If you do anything to hurt Sam, I will tell Lucky everything and then you really will have no one."

Her face fell. "Jason." She said softly in a pleading tone but he shook his head dismissively at her.

"Get out."

"I took a look at your scans and x-rays." Robin Scorpio announced as she walked into the exam room. Sam watched as she put various sheets up on the light board. "Your scans look fine. I did come across some injuries that weren't on any of your previous x-rays and that does concern me."

She turned to look at the older woman that was sitting on the hospital bed, still dressed in a plain hospital gown. Sam McCall looked up at her with a blank expression. "Why?" She finally mumbled.

Robin frowned at the question. She pointed to an x-ray on the far right. "This shows a recently healed fracture of the femur bone." Her patient shuddered but continued to stare at the scans. "And this one right here?" She gestured to the x-ray to the right of the one that revealed the femur break. "It shows a spiral fracture of the wrist."

She looked down at the notes made in the chart. "The intern who did your physical noted that you had numerous scars on your back that might be from a whip or some similar weapon." She looked up at Sam and saw a flicker of anger in her dark eyes. "And the burn marks on your feet." She trailed off when she noticed Sam had stiffened.

"I was abducted and held prisoner for a long time, Robin." Sam replied quietly, unwilling to meet the doctor's questioning gaze. "Are you really surprised to learn that I have scars?"

Robin couldn't speak for several minutes as she processed the horror of what Sam was telling her. "No, I suppose not but I am concerned." She sat down on the chair by the bed and sighed. "I'm not going to pretend to understand what you went through but I can imagine how horrible it was."

Sam laughed bitterly as she finally raised her gaze and aimed a dark glare at the doctor. "No, you can't." She was quiet for a few seconds before her face softened. "But then again, why should you?" Sam allowed that to sink in and after Robin nodded in understanding, she continued. "I suppose you're going to suggest that I talk to someone about it?"

Robin nodded. "I think it might be helpful." She began filling out a consult form. "It might help you work through everything."

Sam considered it for a second before shaking her head. "I already have worked through the torture." An image of shooting Jerry Jacks flashed through her mind. "Believe me, I won't be suffering through anymore trauma."

"I don't think you're in the best state to make that decision for yourself right now." Robin cautioned.

"Well, I know I am." Sam snapped annoyed at the condescending lecture she could tell Robin was gearing up for. "I already dealt with all of that and I assure you that my methods of coping were very therapeutic."

She had to go through a few more tests to make sure she was still okay. They took about a quart of her blood to run tests with and even wanted called in a plastic surgeon to come in and see if she could do anything about the scars Sam received.

Sam had declined the plastic surgeon, insisting that she didn't need any work done right now. They might be bad but they were part of her now. Sam felt that if she agreed to let the doctor make them disappear, it would be like erasing everything she had gone through.

There was definitely some part of her that found that notion appealing, but the wiser part of her knew that it could never be erased. It was a horrifying experience, one she never wanted to repeat and would make damn sure she never did, but it was an experience that had shaped her, taught her how to be stronger, and that was something she didn't want to forget.

Her building's elevator finally dinged at her floor and the doors opened and she stepped onto the floor. She made her way to her apartment door. Taking her keys, she unlocked the door and walked in, tossed them along with her purse on the desk that was conveniently located a few feet from her door.

She froze, sensing something was off. She surveyed the dark apartment for a few seconds, wondering what was giving her a bad feeling. Someone was here and she squinted in the dark to try to locate the person.

She didn't have to wonder because a hand reached out and turned on the lamp by the couch.

Jason was sitting on her sofa, and he looked up at her with concerned blue eyes. "We need to talk," he said softly.

She scoffed and instantly shook her head. "No." She walked closer to him, but still kept her distance, unsure of why he was there. "You need to leave and try again. Knock and wait for me to invite you in."

He rose from his seat and closed the distance between them, looking down at her with intense blue eyes. "You wouldn't have answered, let alone let me inside."

"So you decided to let yourself in to my apartment?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows incredulously. "If you thought that would make me feel inclined to give you what you want, you were wrong, Jason." She gestured around the apartment. "This is my house and I don't appreciate you breaking in and making yourself at home."

He sighed and looked at her regretfully. "I'm sorry but this was the only way I could think of to get you to talk to me."

She smirked. "I'm taking a page out of your book." He frowned at her words. "I don't want to talk." Then she proceeded to pass him by, intent on going to her bedroom to slip in to something more comfortable.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Sam, please." He slowly pulled her back. He lightened his hold on her and his hand trailed down to grasp her hand but he didn't let go. "Please listen to me."

Sam steeled herself against the pleas in his voice. She could hear the desperation and she knew that he was in pain but she couldn't afford to give in. She roughly pulled her hand out of his. "No." And then she turned around again, heading over to the door.

"You have to listen to me." He shouted desperately.

She stopped walking. "Why?" she asked quietly. Turning around, she met his gaze head on and tilted her head to the side questioningly. "Why should I listen? Why should I care about what you want at all?"

Sam took a deep breath and forced herself to stay strong. She could see the devastation in his eyes but she ignored the pang deep in her heart and glared at him. "Give me one good reason why."

Jason sighed deeply and met her fiery gaze once again. "Because I love you." He told her quietly and hoped she would believe what he said.


	19. Chapter 19

_Here's the next chapter. It's short but it's all I could manage. I'm not sure how I feel about the way it ended. Read & enjoy._

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**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Anger swept through her as she took in his soft words. "You love me?" she whispered and her forehead wrinkled with uncertainty. She finally let out a bitter laugh. "Call me crazy, Jason but I'm pretty sure you don't threaten the woman you claim to love."

"I do love you!" He insisted, walking closer to her, wanting desperately to hold her and make her believe that he did love her. "Sam you know how much I care about you. You have to know that."

She tried to walk away again but he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back. She shook her head and a sob finally broke free from her as she felt his arms wrap around her back.

"Please." He whispered agonizingly, pulling her as close to him as he could. It was heaven just having her back in his arms. "Don't leave me again."

"No." She whimpered when he tightened his arms around her when she tried to pull away. "I can't." Sam lifted her head and looked at him sadly. His breath caught in his throat at the devastated look on her face. "You hurt me so much Jason and the damage can't be repaired that easily. I can't trust you anymore."

Her lip trembled and for a minute her tears took over as she buried her head in his shoulder, her hands gripping the material of his jacket as she pushed him away gently. "It has to be over."

He shook his head miserably as he took in her tear-stained face and the misery in her eyes. "I thought you were dead, Sam."

He recalled the day Spinelli told him that she had been shot dead in her apartment the same night he had been there for the first time. Mercifully, it had been a trick but he still had nightmares that it had actually happened. "It was a reality that I had to face every day. I woke every morning to realize that I was living in a world without you in it."

"And now you want me to just walk away?"

She didn't say anything in response.

"I never wanted to hurt you." Sam flinched as he moved to reach for her. "I swear." He held his hand against his heart as he spoke. "If I could go back and tell you the truth from the start, I would. I love you and I have missed you so much."

The anger came back with a vengeance and he watched helplessly as it flashed in her dark eyes. "You don't get a do-over Jason. It's too late. You chose to lie to me and take Elizabeth's word over mine and when you did that, everything we were was destroyed."

"I swear I didn't know that was Allie," He told her desperately, trying to get her to understand. "I had no idea that she was pretending to be you."

She bristled dangerously at that. "And you think that is a good thing?" Sam yelled angrily in response. "Allie Monroe was like a grenade thrown in at the last minute but she still managed to completely blow my life apart with zero prep work. **_And you fell for it_**!"

The betrayal shining in her eyes broke his heart. "She conspired with Amelia Joffe to have that woman kidnap your son and you thought she stood by and let it happen." She sniffed and took a moment to catch her breath because her tears were making it difficult to talk. "Then she staged that incident with the men in the park. Those actors she and Amelia hired to threaten Elizabeth and her children at gunpoint."

"And you thought it was actually **ME**!" She shook violently as she shouted at him. "You were so angry that you broke in and threatened to kill her." Then she chuckled quietly as her eyes grew dark with rage. "Oh, wait. Actually, you threatened to kill me."

Jason felt as if everything was falling apart all over again. The guilt was overwhelming and her dark eyes pinned him to the spot while the misery swirled in her eyes once again. "I didn't know." He whispered desperately. He didn't know what else he could say that would make up for it.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She asked him snidely, clenching her jaw as she struggled to regain control of her emotions. "You had no idea that the woman who did all those horrible things wasn't really me..." Her voice trailed off as she broke and the tears she'd been holding back filled her eyes. "Am I supposed to take comfort in that Jason? That you could believe I was capable of any of it?"

"No." He answered in a small voice. Jason tried to pull himself together. "I'm sorry, Sam. I know there's no words that can make what I did okay but I tried to explain anyway." He gave her a dismal look as tears filled his eyes. "I don't want to lose you but I don't want to hurt you anymore."

Sam didn't know what to say to that so she simply looked at him expectantly, thinking he had more to say but was having trouble getting it out.

"And if it's what you need I will keep my distance." He looked at her sadly but nodded with finality. He started to walk away but turned around again. "Just know that I'm here for you if you ever need anything. I'll always be here." Then he walked through the door.

The storm broke and Sam's eyes filled with tears. She fell to the ground and broke down, sobbing in misery, emotionally exhausted. After a while, she took her phone out and dialled a familiar number.

"Hello?" Her older sister's voice came through the silence.

"Can you come to my apartment?"

"Sam, what's wrong?" Claudia's voice was filled with alarm. She could hear the tears and misery in her sister's voice. "What happened?"

Everyone had been telling her that she wasn't alone anymore so she took their advice. "Jason just left. I need you."

"I'll be right over."


	20. Chapter 20

_Hey all! I'm here with the next chapter. Better late than never, eh? I will try to work on the next one next weekend as I'm pretty booked this week so I don't know when or if I'll have time to write. As I said before, it means a lot that people still enjoy this story and take the time to leave a comment, even when it's just to tell me to hurry my butt up with the next chapter . Anyways, here you go. Read & enjoy!_

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**CHAPTER TWENTY**

Sam walked through the double doors of the upscale bridal shop in New York City and smiled in amusement when she spotted her sister. She had volunteered to find a parking spot so the bride could go in ahead of her and scout out the wedding gowns to see if she liked anything. Now Claudia was arguing with a sales associate, her arms waving around aimlessly as the two bickered back and forth.

"I'm sorry, Miss." The older woman said, looking incredibly stressed out as Claudia once again attempted to yank the wedding dress the sales associate was holding onto away. "But you'll need to make an appointment."

Claudia's eyes sparked dangerously as she let go of the dress and gestured around the empty shop. "Why?" She spat angrily and looked around pointedly. "It's not like you're busy."

"If you would just make an appointment."

"This is a bridal shop! I am a _bride_. It seems to me that since you obviously work on commission it would serve you well not to piss off your only customer."

The sales woman's cheeks flushed with anger but other than that she covered her reaction very well. She clenched her jaw and stared Claudia down. "I would be more than happy to help you _once_ you make an appointment."

Claudia rolled her eyes in response. "Fine then." She folded her arms across her chest. "Be that way and I will be more than happy to take my business to the other bridal shop down the road." She sneered at the woman one last time. "I only stopped in here because it was more convenient. A mistake that I'm _more than happy _to correct."

Her older sister then spun on her heel and stormed out of the store.

"**_SAM_**!"

She turned her head at the sound of her name and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the sight. Claudia had returned, and was now holding the door open, waiting for her expectantly with thunderclouds in her eyes.

A few hours later, Sam and Claudia both walked into the Zacchara manor with their arms full of shopping bags.

They had managed to get their dresses and all the accessories they needed for the wedding at the second bridal shop in less than three hours.

"Well, well, well." Anthony remarked when he spotted them entering the living room that he occupied. "Did you two knock over a bridal boutique or what?"

Claudia snorted in dry amusement. "I felt a burning desire to knock something over, namely that dreadful saleswoman."

Sam snickered as she helped the maid empty the bags and gave her instructions regarding where to put the dresses. "The giant sign on the door clearly states that you need an appointment in order to be served so I don't know why you got so bent out of shape."

"I thought they'd make an exception." Claudia replied, frowning at how quickly Sam had defended the woman's behaviour. "When I throw my last name around, people are all usually eager to help me."

Sam remained silent, unwilling to have that conversation on what was turning out to be a better day than when it had started.

She had called Claudia over to her apartment after Jason had left and while her sister helped dry her tears and tried several times to start a conversation about Jason (whom Sam did not want to discuss), Claudia then brought up her upcoming wedding and how she had not started shopping yet. They had made plans to start. And they had far exceeded her expectations.

Expecting Claudia to fuss over every detail like every other bride in the universe, Sam had been shocked by her sister's very agreeable attitude. Sam got to pick out her own bridesmaid dress which she was beyond grateful for as she spied the maid taking it out of the bags to hang it up. She had fallen in love with it the minute she had seen it and Claudia had made a very amusing remark about how since Sam would be the only bridesmaid in attendance, it didn't really matter what style of dress she picked out. As long as it was one of the colours that Claudia had decided on.

A royal blue gown with a V-neck that showed off a modest amount of cleavage (and Sam had chuckled over it when the sales associate had pointed that out when she was telling her about the gown like it was a selling point because she was never one to fuss over showing off too much) and flowed down into a liquid pool on the floor when Sam had tried it on and when she had seen the slit up the right side, she had immediately told the sales associate to ring it up for her.

The only item Claudia raised a fuss over was her own wedding gown. Which was perfectly understandable and Sam would have been very concerned if Claudia hadn't been picky about it. Since money was no object, Claudia was able to get her dream wedding gown at a whopping thirty-five hundred.

"You've gotten everything you need then?" Tony asked, looking at both of them hopefully. Claudia nodded in response while Sam frowned at the odd twinkle in his eyes. "Well, that's fantastic."

"And I'm glad we did. Shopping for a wedding on such short notice is so stressful." Sam rolled her eyes. Claudia had barely done any of the actual shopping, claiming that since Sam was the Maid of Honour, it was really her job to get everything done.

"Will everything be ready in time?" Sam asked Tony, not missing the way he had stiffened at the question. "You know, the venue, the license, a priest, the caterers and everything else?"

"Everything has already been arranged," Tony replied, grinning devilishly as he started to wheel himself towards his study. "Don't you worry, Samantha! This wedding will be an occasion never to be forgotten."

Sam watched him go, a ball of lead beginning to form in the pit of her stomach. "Is it just me or does he seem too eager to feed you to Sonny?"

While she was wholeheartedly against the marriage, she had promised not to interfere because Claudia had made it very clear that she knew what she was getting herself into and that it was something she wanted. And while it was going against every fibre of her being, Sam agreed to help plan and even be a part of the wedding. If something did go wrong, at least she would be around. She didn't feel comfortable with the knowledge that almost everything was being left in their father's hands.

She was very nervous about the whole idea. Anthony had muscled his way into Jason and Sonny's territory but now after months of fighting and building his power base, he was just going to hand it all over to Sonny (a man he hated) and Claudia (who he didn't trust or think was fit to be in the business) and walk away. It didn't sit right with her. It made no sense and that nagging feeling that had been clawing at her crept up her spine again.

Claudia stilled her hands from the task of sorting bags into piles of which were to go up to her room, which were to go in Sam's trunk and which were to be stored away and looked up at Sam. The younger girl's eyes were swirling with suspicion and Claudia felt a stab of frustration.

"This wedding will bring peace, Sam." She turned her head away but Claudia knew Sam was probably rolling her eyes. "It's all got to come together more quickly than most weddings so Daddy is just trying to make sure everything is ready by then."

"Yeah, and that doesn't bother you because...?" Sam shot back, shaking her head incredulously. "If this wedding is so important, wouldn't you prefer to take the time to make sure it's all done right? If this unholy alliance is all just a simple business deal, then why does it have to happen next _week_? What is the rush?"

"You just answered your own question, Sam." Claudia replied, inhaling deeply, willing herself to be calm. She knew Sam disapproved and she understood why but they had already had this conversation more than enough times. Besides, she knew what her sister's problem really was. "I am not going to change my mind about marrying Sonny but I can't say the same for him."

"I don't know the man very well but from what I have heard and seen of him myself, he seems awfully mercurial." She saw understanding begin to dawn on Sam as she nodded in confirmation. "This wedding needs to happen as soon as possible so Sonny won't back out or allow himself to be talked in to backing out by either Carly or Jason." As soon as she said the enforcer's name, she regretted it as she watched a flash of pain cross Sam's face.

An almost wistful smile curved her sister's mouth but it wobbled a bit as well. "Carly must be going completely bonkers. She's probably driving Jason insane." A lone tear slid down her face and Sam wiped it away forcefully.

"I'm sorry." Claudia apologized for mentioning his name even if it had been unintentional. "I dragged you out today to try to get your mind off him and then I go and bring the man up."

Sam shook her head. "It's fine." She sniffled delicately and then wiped unconsciously at her eyes again. "I'm fine."

Claudia reached out a hand and tapped her shoulder. "It's okay to not be okay. You don't always have to be so strong."

Sam waved a hand dismissively through the air, shaking her head in refusal. "We have a wedding to arrange, so let's not dwell on something that doesn't even matter anymore."

She'd been debating whether or not to force a conversation with Sam ever since she had gotten to her apartment after Jason left and found her in a heap on the floor, drowning in tears. Watching her sister now, trying to mask the pain that was lurking just beneath the surface, the tears bursting at the seams, her mind was made up.

"It does to matter, Sam, and maybe we should take the time to discuss it." Claudia immediately covered her mouth with her free hand. She hadn't meant to sound so unsympathetic and bossy. So demanding.

Sam was already gearing up for a fight, her shoulders squaring defensively as she went stiff and roughly jerked herself out of reach, stepping a few feet away. "Well, it's a good thing it's not up to you," she replied coldly with an almost challenging expression on her face.

Claudia held up a forestalling hand, and shook her head at her own foolishness. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry." She didn't know if it was a wise course of action to try to force the issue when Sam obviously did not want to talk about it but she knew something had to be done. Someone had to help her work through the pain before it destroyed her spirit because despite the way Sam acted, she wasn't as strong as she pretended to be.

"Look, I know it's not really my place to stick my nose in," Claudia began, keeping her voice soft as she tried to be more diplomatic, "especially since we've been sister for such a short time. But I am your sister, Sam, and I want to help you."

Sam listened to her with a considering look on her face. "I backed off at your apartment because it wasn't the right time and you said you weren't ready but I think that might have been a mistake. I think you _do_ want to talk about it, and more importantly, I think you **_should_**."

She watched as Sam took a deep breath and with a defeated look in her eyes, nodded her assent. "Okay." She looked around the room pensively before resting her gaze on Claudia once again. "But not here. Let's go to my place."

After gathering their purses and jackets, the two sisters left the manor and headed over to Sam's loft, each preparing themselves for the long night ahead of them.


End file.
